A Rare Case of Haemoperitoneum in Pregnancy

Haemoperitoneum in pregnancy is a rare, but potentially fatal condition. Primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in pregnancy is also very uncommon. Primary hepatocellular carcinoma occuring in a pregnant lady and presenting with massive haemoperitoneum is, to the best of our knowledge, the first case to be reported in world literature. Here we present a case of 32-year-old female who had no typical risk factors for HCC; was in nineteenth week of gestation presented with abdominal pain. Following a spontaneous expulsion of a dead and macerated foetus, she developed massive haemoperitoneum due to rupture of a liver mass. This caused a great diagnostic challenge for us to differentiate between the benign Hepatocellular Adenoma (HA) and well differentiated HCC because of the age and typical clinical presentation favouring HA and the histopathological features favouring more for HCC. Diagnosis of HCC was confirmed based on the immunohistochemical findings. The differential diagnosis between HA and well differentiated HCC is very difficult and sometimes impossible especially when it occurs in young females and in pregnancy.