The foreign body granuloma is a response of biological tissue to any foreign material in the tissue.

The second reaction is an aseptic fibrinous response, resulting in tissue adhesions and encapsulation and eventually foreign body granuloma.

The term "gossypiboma" is derived from the Latin gossypium ("cotton wool, cotton") and the suffix -oma, meaning a tumor or growth, and describes a mass within a patient's body comprising a cotton matrix surrounded by a foreign body granuloma.