Small Hepatic Hemangioma Leading to Life-Threatening Bleeding Following Blunt Abdominal Trauma: A Case Report

Abstract

A male pedestrian in his 30’s was hit by a car and immediately taken to hospital by ambulance. On arrival, his blood pressure was 83/64 mmHg and his heart rate was 140 beats/min. Computed tomography showed extravasation of contrast medium from the lateral segment of the liver. Given the exacerbation caused by hypotension, an emergency laparotomy was performed. Temporary hemostasis was achieved by packing with gauze and a subsequent transcatheter arterial embolization. At the 2nd laparotomy, a small amount of active bleeding from the injury site was noted; therefore, an emergency lateral segmentectomy was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful and he was discharged home 8 days later. The pathology of the liver specimen revealed that a 2.5 cm hepatic hemangioma was the cause of bleeding. Traumatic rupture of hepatic hemangiomas is rare, and most reported cases are of giant hemangiomas. Our case demonstrated that even a small hemangioma can elicit life-threatening bleeding in blunt abdominal trauma.

Keywords

• blunt injury
• hemangioma
• liver
• rupture