Pelvic hematoma as a cause of bladder perforation and gross hematuria

We present a case of an ulcerated perforation of the bladder caused by a large pelvic hematoma without any direct injury to the bladder in a 71-year-old woman. She developed the hematoma after emergency percutaneous angioplasty and placement of an intra-aortic balloon pump that was complicated by retroperitoneal bleeding from an injured femoral artery. She presented several days later with gross hematuria and right hydroureteronephrosis. Cystoscopy and cystography revealed an extraperitoneal perforation at the right bladder neck. Although conservative management was attempted, the patient eventually required open repair. The perforation had transformed to an intraperitoneal perforation by making a communicating tract through the absorbed hematoma. After debridement and excision of the tract, the bladder perforation was repaired in two layers. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc.