Radiology, Vol 149, 411-413, Copyright © 1983 by Radiological Society of North America
Detection of retained surgical sponges
G Revesz, TS Siddiqi, WA Buchheit and M Bonitatibus
The accuracy of radiographic detection of neurosurgical sponges was
measured experimentally. Commercially available sponges were inserted into
a cadaver in several paravertebral locations and radiographed. A total of
72 radiographs (90 sponges) were assessed, as well as an equal number of
radiographs without sponges. The images were viewed by eight observers,
whose responses showed marked variation in both false negatives and false
positives; however, the two types of errors were compensatory and all
responses were located along the same receiver operating characteristic
curve. Mean false-negative and false-positive rates were both about 10%. In
addition, false-negative rates varied between 3 and 25% according to the
type of sponge.
