Hemorrhagic ascites due to congestive heart failure.
Ascites due to congestive heart failure (CHF) is characteristically serous in gross appearance. Although hemorrhage into ascites commonly indicates a malignant or inflammatory cause, cirrhosis of the liver is a well known cause of bloody ascites. We report a case of hemorrhagic ascites due to biventricular congestive heart failure in which workup for other causes was negative and hemorrhage cleared after 4 months. In as much as the mechanism of ascites is similar in both cirrhosis and CHF, we propose that a similar mechanism could cause bleeding into ascites in CHF.
Department of Internal Medicine, VA Medical Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
A K
AK
Goel
L
L
Ganesan
M
M
Edelstein
D000368:Aged; D001201:Ascites / Q000209:etiology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications; D004906:Erythrocyte Count; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications*; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D019152:Paracentesis