Spontaneous renal haemorrhage in the peritoneal cavity

A 49 year old woman was admitted to hospital after a sudden onset of severe back pain. Twelve hours later, the haemoglobin had decreased to 5.9 and became unstable. She underwent emergency laparotomy that showed intraperitoneal bleeding, secondary to spontaneous kidney rupture. The patient was given a nephrectomy. Histological examination showed an angiomyolipoma as the cause of the bleeding. To the knowledge of the authors, only five previous cases of spontaneous renal bleeding into the peritoneal cavity have been reported in English literature.