Spontaneous rupture of splenic vein in a pregnant woman during a religious ritual

The treatment of retroperitoneal hemorrhage can be by surgical or a conservative approach but the main problems about these cases are difficulty in diagnosis due to negative results after abdominal lavage and the difficulties in accessing the retroperitoneal area surgically. Retroperitoneal hemorrhage during pregnancy, occurring as a result of spontaneous rupture, is very rare event. Such cases require urgent operation and if not, result in high mortality. A twenty-eight year old pregnant woman was admitted to the hospital dead after collapsing at home during a religious ritual. No systemic or gynecological pathology had been diagnosed. No traumatic injury on her body was found at early postmortem examination. The pathologic findings found at the autopsy are; approximately 2.5 L of coagulated blood in the retroperitoneal region and 10–12 cm of haematoma at the hilum of spleen; dissection revealed a tear of 0.5 cm on lienal vein at a point 3 cm from the hilum. Surgical approach is the most important procedure for diagnosis and therapy of the bleeding. Autopsy may be only diagnostic technique in the case of retroperitoneal hemorrhage death when the death is so rapid that there is no time to intervene surgically.