Rectus sheath haematoma: a serious complication of a commonly administered drug

Ten days after an above knee amputation, this 62-year-old woman became acutely anaemic (haemoglobin drop of 10.4 to 6.2). Clinically, she had no obvious source of bleeding; however, on examination, her abdomen was slightly distended and she was tender over the suprapubic area. A CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis was arranged which showed a large haematoma (17 × 11 cm) arising from the anterior abdominal wall from the deep aspect of the left rectus abdominus, extending across the midline to the right rectus abdominus and deep into the pelvis. This may have been spontaneous or may have been due to direct injury when injecting subcutaneous heparin.