A Case of an Intraabdominal Chronic Expanding Hematoma Treated with Laparoscopic Surgery

Abstract

A 49-year-old man presented to our hospital with lower abdominal pain. Abdominal ultrasound and computed tomography showed a cystic tumor approximately 10 cm in size in the pelvic area.

T-2 weighted magnetic resonance imaging showed that the outer margin of the capsule of the mass was low, and the intertumoral area generally had a high density. Although a chronic expanding hematoma (CEH) was suspected, the possibility of a retroperitoneal tumor could not be ruled out. We performed laparoscopic surgery to excise the mass, and the patient was diagnosed with CEH by pathological examination. CEH is defined as a hematoma that develops following surgery or injury and slowly expands without natural resorption ; however, the patient had no history of these events. Most previous reports have demonstrated that CEH is generally present in the soft tissue and thoracic cavity, and only a few cases of CEH in the abdominal cavity have been reported. Herein, we report our experience of a rare intraabdominal CEH case treated with laparoscopic surgery, together with a literature review.