Doctors have removed a piece of cloth that was left inside a woman’s body two years after she had an operation to remove a cancerous tumor in Brazil.
Mariel Vidal, 58, had the 20-centimeter cloth taken out during a procedure on July 22 at Beneficencia Portuguesa de Santos Hospital in the São Paulo city of Santos.
Vidal remains hospitalized as doctors now await to determine if she will require another surgery, her daughter, Stefany Vidal, told Brazilian news outlet G1.
She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022 and had underwent a colostomy, which created an opening for the colon through the belly to allow the stool to be drained from a stoma into a removal pouch.
Mariel Vidal was diagnosed with colon cancer and had a colostomy in July 2022. After a year of being in discomfort, doctors discovered a 20-centimeter cloth in her abdomen and removed it July 2022
Doctors initially thought there was dry stool in Mariel Vidal’s colostomy bag, but one physician inspecting the area where the stool passes through a stoma on her belly pulled on the material and discovered that it was actually a piece of cloth that had been left in her abdomen during a July 2022 operation
In November 2023, she began to experience stomach pains and weight loss, which were the same symptoms that she had before the cancer was detected. Although she experienced the same symptoms again, imaging results were inconclusive.
Vidal checked her pouch on July 20 and noticed that it was being filled with material that led her and the family to reach out to her doctors. The team of physicians initially thought it was dry stool and was admitted to the hospital for further testing July 21.
A doctor who was doing their residency had doubts with the material in the colostomy bag and discovered it was a piece of cloth when they began to extract it.
‘She saw it, thought it was strange and started pulling it, then she realized it was a cloth. So, she called her supervisor, the surgeon,’ Stefany Vidal recalled. ‘He evaluated it and put his hand in it, then he started pulling it and it was a very large cloth, by the way.’
The surgeon was able to remove 10 centimeters of cloth on the first try and the other 10 on the second attempt.
Stefany Vidal said that her mother, Mariel Vidal, is recovering from the procedure to remove the cloth from her belly and will be seeking legal action against the hospital
At first, Mariel Vidal’s loved ones feared the worst and thought her cancer had returned after having gone through chemotherapy treatments.
‘The first feeling was anger, because only those who have had a relative with cancer know how difficult it is,’ Stefany Vidal said.
‘We thought the cancer was coming back. Her head wasn’t well anymore,’ she added. ‘But finding out that it was a cloth inside her made me angry, because she should have been fine.’
Stefany Vidal said the mother will be hiring an attorney to seek legal action against the hospital.
In a statement, Cubatão Municipal Hospital said it has been in contact with Mariel Vidal to ensure her recovery and has been providing support to her and her family. It also added that the surgeon who operated the woman in July 2022 is no longer a member of its surgical team.
