Extraskeletal osteosarcoma associated with retained surgical sponge in a dog

Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA. pegmiller@purdue.edu

Retained surgical sponges are usually discovered in the abdominal cavity, sometimes years after the surgical procedure, and the typical reaction is formation of a foreign-body granuloma, often called gossypiboma or textiloma. In this instance, an extraskeletal osteosarcoma, associated with the granulomatous reaction to a retained surgical sponge adjacent to the stifle, was diagnosed in an 11-year-old Labrador Retriever 9 years after repair of a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament. Radiographic detection of linear foreign material in the soft tissue mass was the basis for a diagnosis of gossypiboma. The mass was surgically excised. Histologically, fibers consistent with those of cotton gauze were associated with the granulomatous inflammation and the osteosarcoma. Amputation or radiation therapy was declined; the dog was treated conservatively with doxycycline and deracoxib. Three months after surgical excision, the dog was euthanized because of local recurrence of the mass along with lameness and decreased appetite.