A ruptured vulvar labial artery pseudoaneurysm causes a secondary postpartum hemorrhage: A case report

Marie-Claire Leaf; Luke Schmidt; Tasha Serna-Gallegos; Felicia Lane

doi:10.1016/j.crwh.2020.e00184

A ruptured vulvar labial artery pseudoaneurysm causes a secondary postpartum hemorrhage: A case report

Case Rep Womens Health. 2020 Feb 20:26:e00184. doi: 10.1016/j.crwh.2020.e00184. eCollection 2020 Apr.

Authors

Marie-Claire Leaf¹, Luke Schmidt¹, Tasha Serna-Gallegos², Felicia Lane³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of California, Irvine-Medical Center, Orange, CA, USA.
² Division of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
³ Division of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, University of California, Irvine-Medical Center, Orange, CA, USA.

Abstract

Background: Postpartum hemorrhage is the most common cause of maternal morbidity in the United States. However, secondary postpartum hemorrhage is rare and includes pseudoaneurysms, which represent only 3.3% of all cases of secondary postpartum hemorrhage. Vulvar labial artery pseudoaneurysm had never been reported in the literature.

Case: This is a case of ruptured vulvar labial pseudoaneurysm leading to secondary postpartum hemorrhage. Computerized tomography angiography showed it to be located in a distal branch of the vulvar labial artery. This location is unique, although there are reported cases of pseudoaneurysms in the uterine artery. The patient was successfully treated with arterial embolization.

Conclusion: Recognition of a ruptured pseudoaneurysm as the cause of postpartum hemorrhage allows for its proper management by arterial embolization.

Keywords: Case report; Obstetric care; Postpartum hemorrhage; Pseudoaneurysm.

Publication types

Case Reports