The communicating hematocele: an unusual presentation for blunt splenic trauma

The communicating hematocele is an unusual scrotal disorder that is rarely anticipated. Surgical exploration for an enlarging hydrocele and an abnormal scrotal sonogram in a 19-month-old boy revealed a communicating hematocele. Further evaluation demonstrated a fractured spleen. The association between a patent processus vaginalis and blunt abdominal trauma in the pathogenesis of the communicating hematocele is discussed.