Fox News, citing sciencedaily.com, reported sponges rank first among the objects most commonly left inside the patients.
Dr. Steven DeJong, vice chairperson of the department of surgery at the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, in a statement said, "When there is significant bleeding and a sponge is placed in a patient, it can sometimes look indistinguishable from the tissue around it."
This accident could result in complications such as pain, infection, bowel obstruction, prolonged stay in the hospital, and additional surgeries. There are rare instances that such could lead to death, Fox News added.
DeJong admitted that sponges and instruments that have been unintentionally retained are "a devastating complication for patients and is a national problem affecting every hospital in the country that performs invasive and surgical procedures."
Loyola University Medical Center has been using sponges outfitted with bar codes - similar to that used on grocery items, for easy raking by surgical teams thus preventing the leaving behind of sponges during surgical procedures, sciencedaily.com added.
With this technology, the patient is scanned for his identification number and the badge of the surgical team member keeping track of the count. Equipped with a color screen that records the running number of sponges used, the counter could determine if one sponge is missing or is being counted twice.
Sciencedaily.com added that the technology ensures that the surgical procedure could not end until all sponges are counted back into the system. A sponge is counted back into the system if it is taken out from the patient.
