Liver Subcapsular Hematoma: A Rare Cause of Sudden Unexpected Death

Dorra Oualha1, Abir Aissaoui, Meriam Belhaj

  • 1From the Faculty of Medicine, Departments of *Forensic Medicine and †Pathology, University Hospital Fattouma Bourguiba, University of Monastir, Tunisia.

The spontaneous subcapsular hematoma of the liver is very rare. There are only a few reported cases in the literature.Most reported cases of liver hematoma often occur during pregnancy as part of the hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count syndrome. The other causes may be due to amylosis, rupture of hepatocellular carcinoma, adenoma, focal nodular hyperplasia, hemorrhagic cyst, or hemopathy. Idiopathic spontaneous subscapular hematoma is a rare and often fatal condition.We report a case of a 43-year-old woman having Steinert disease who died because of a fatal spontaneous liver hemorrhage occurring without any traumatism. We did not find any apparent cause that could explain this hemorrhage even after a histological study of the liver.