A foreign body (gossypiboma) in pregnancy: first report of a case

Dane et al. [1] state that the word gossypiboma, a mass within the body that is composed of a cotton matrix, is derived from the Latin word Gossypium for cotton and from the Kiswahili word boma for “place of concealment.” The reference to Gossypium is correct [2, 3], but it is unlikely that medical terms would be derived from the Kiswahili language. Cocheton [3] objected against the use of the name gossypiboma for a “textiloma” and found after a MEDLINE search (1990–1998) that it was predominantly used by Anglo-Saxon authors, whereas other European authors used textiloma. Since these cases more than once give rise to gossip, a relation between the English noun “gossip” and gossypiboma might explain this finding.