[Spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage: our experience at last 10 years]

Etiology, clinical features, diagnostic methods and treatment of spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage were analyzed.

We report 27 cases with diagnosis of spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage treated in our hospital between January 1996 and December 2005. The imaging techniques were abdominal ultrasonography, abdominal CT scan and MRI.

The most common cause of retroperitoneal hemorrhage was renal angiomyolipoma rupture in 7 patients. Continuous flank or abdominal pain were the primary symptoms. Abdominal ultrasonography showed hematoma in 81.8% patients, but the actual etiologic diagnosis was ascertained in only 40.9% of them. Retroperitoneal hemorrhage was demonstrated by means of abdominal CT scan in all cases and bleeding origin was established in 92.6% of cases. Ten patients underwent urgent surgery while conservative treatment was attempted in the remaining 17.

In our experience, in cases of spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage, CT scan is the best imaging method to establish the diagnosis and the management of such entity although it will need to be individualized for every case because it depends on the hemodinamic situation and etiologic diagnosis.