title: Free intra-abdominal hemorrhage after open-heart surgery: an unusual gastrointestinal complication.
abstract: Gastrointestinal complications after open-heart surgery are rare. Many preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative factors may predispose patients to these complications or cause them. Our patient was a 64-year-old woman who underwent aortic valve replacement due to aortic stenosis. Free intra-abdominal hemorrhage occurred on the 2nd postoperative day. During exploratory laparotomy, it was determined that the hemorrhage was from a vein near the falciform ligament of the liver and from a bleeding laceration of the splenic capsule. The complication was repaired surgically. To our knowledge, intra-abdominal hemorrhage of both liver and spleen after open-heart surgery has never been reported before, even in large patient series. We report the case and present our ideas regarding the cause of the bleeding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Gazi University, Ankara 06500, Turkey. erkaniriz@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iriz
authors.forename: Emrah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ereren
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yuksel
authors.forename: Sedat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kalaycioglu
mesh_terms: D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D005260:Female; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D013158:Splenic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy