Retained surgical sponge simulating a pancreatic mass.

An abdominal mass evaluated angiographically suggested either a carcinoma or a pseudocyst of the pancreas. Exploratory laparotomy revealed a cystic mass containing a surgical sponge left in the patient's abdomen during a surgical procedure 12 years previously. A review of the literature is included and complications caused by surgical foreign bodies and means of avoiding such complications are discussed.