Fatal hemoperitoneum after fine-needle aspiration of a liver metastasis

Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of the liver is a procedure considered virtually risk-free. We report here a patient with carcinoma of the pancreas, who suffered a fatal hemoperitoneum (HP) subsequent to FNA of the liver under the guidance of ultrasound. The patient had presented with migratory deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and recurrent cerebral embolism. The prothrombin time (PT) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT) had been normal, and FNA demonstrated adenocarcinoma cells. Autopsy findings demonstrated carcinoma in the tail of the pancreas with liver and adrenal metastases, massive HP, and findings of chronic disseminated intravascular clotting (DIC). Since chronic DIC with enhanced fibrinolysis might have participated in the fatal bleeding, we recommend that FNA should be contraindicated in patients suspected of having malignancy with migratory DVT and recurrent arterial embolism, despite normal PT and PTT tests, unless the appropriate laboratory tests succeed in excluding DIC.