Outcomes of Open Surgery for Retroperitoneal Hematoma in Covid-19 Patients: Experience from a Single Centre.

Background: Spontaneous retroperitoneal hematoma is a severe and potentially fatal complication that appears in the course of anticoagulation therapy. Therapeutic doses of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) are used for the prevention of thrombosis in patients seriously ill with Covid-19. Methods: We describe 27 (0.14%) patients with retroperitoneal hematomas who required emergency surgery out of 19108 patients with Covid-19 who were hospitalized in Batajnica COVID Hospital between March 2021 and March 2022. All the patients were on therapeutic doses of LMWH. The existence of retroperitoneal hematoma was confirmed by abdominal ultrasound and computed tomography scans. Results: Open surgery was performed on 27 patients with spontaneous retroperitoneal hematomas (12 female and 15 male). The mean age of the study population was 71.6+-11.9 years. D-dimer was significantly elevated two days before the surgery in comparison with the values on the day of surgery (p=0.011). Six patients (22.23%) survived, while 21 (77.77%) patients died. Conclusion: Bleeding in Covid-19 patients treated by LMWH is associated with an increased risk of developing retroperitoneal hematoma. Open surgery for retroperitoneal hematoma in Covid-19 patients on anticoagulation therapy is a procedure associated with a high rate of mortality.

Case report of falciform ligament abscess-The importance of early diagnosis.

Ligaments are peritoneal duplications that contain venous and lymphatic vessels that can potentially be pathways for the spread of infection. Primary inflammation of one of the peritoneal ligaments is very rare. Abscess of the falciform ligament (FLA) is a rare pathological substrate whose pathophysiology is still unknown or poorly understood, but most often occurs as a consequence of a local inflammatory process such as acute cholangitis, cholecystitis, pancreatitis or pylephlebitis. The diagnosis of the primary site of inflammation as well as FLA is established by radiological methods-ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR), while the therapy is most often combined-conservative and surgical, but interventional radiology methods can also be used. In this report, we present a 67-year-old patient with the falciform ligament abscess that developed during epizode of acute cholecystitis with left portal vein thrombosis, which was diagnosed by US and CT and effectively managed with antibiotic treatment. FLA is a severe inflammatory condition that requires prompt diagnosis and aggressive antibiotic therapy to avoid surgical treatment.