Methods and apparatus track surgical objects placed in a body cavity so that they may be reliably located and recovered from the body cavity at a later time. In one preferred embodiment, an apparatus comprises a vibrantly colored stringer threaded through apertures in a plurality of surgical objects and vibrantly colored tracking tags affixed to each end of the vibrantly colored stringer to maintain the surgical objects on the vibrantly colored stringer. In alternate embodiments, photo-reactive pigments in the range of 345-375 nm are also added to the vibrantly colored stringer and vibrantly colored tracking tags to enhance their visual detection under ambient lighting, when illuminated with a spectrum specific light source, and/or viewed through a spectrum-specific transmission filter in the same range of wavelengths. In another embodiment, retainers having apertures through which the vibrantly colored stringer may be threaded and bodies formed to be replacably affixed to a variety surgical objects are also employed.
