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Retroperitoneal Bleeding

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Okay, so here's our case of retroperitoneal

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bleeding in the posterior pararenal space, secondary

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to anticoagulation and an intermuscular bleed.

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Here we have, um, high-density blood products

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within the psoas muscle, expanding the psoas

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muscle. Note the contralateral side,

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consistent with retroperitoneal bleeding.

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This comes all the way down the entire muscle.

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You can imagine that this is a large

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volume of bleeding in this patient.

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They would need some reversal of their

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anticoagulation and blood products.

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Uh, we can exclude other causes of

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retroperitoneal bleeding that may have come

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from the kidneys or the aorta or IVC, because

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it's in a different retroperitoneal space.

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But let's go over that again.

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Retroperitoneal bleeding,

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designed by spaces.

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Here we have the AAA, the large

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abdominal aortic aneurysm.

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We have bleeding into the classic

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pararenal space. Note mass effect upon

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the iliopsoas muscle without expansion.

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Again, we have retroperitoneal bleeding in the perirenal

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space, where we would interrogate the kidneys very

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closely, because the aorta and IVC look normal.

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There's not expansion of the muscle here, as opposed

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to our case of posterior pararenal space bleeding,

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where we have expansion of the iliopsoas muscle.

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It's an intermuscular bleed.

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This is usually secondary to anticoagulation.

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Um, and we may see them around the abdominal

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cavity, including the rectus sheath,

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the iliacus muscle, and classically the

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thigh and gluteal muscles as well.

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So in patients who are anticoagulated with a drop in

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hematocrit, where we're looking for the collection of

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blood, you may scan the abdomen and pelvis, and you

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may want to include at least to the mid-thigh as well.

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So retroperitoneal bleeding — a common

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reason for a hypotensive patient who has,

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uh, lost a significant amount of blood volume.

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They're lucky enough to be bleeding into a

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somewhat confined space that can tamponade

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the bleeding, which is great, and we want to use

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our theory there to determine the location.

Report

Faculty

Laura L Avery, MD

Assistant Professor of Emergency Radiology Harvard Medical School

Massachusetts General Hosptial

Tags

Vascular Imaging

Retroperitoneum

Emergency

Body

Acquired/Developmental