Spontaneous Haematoma of the Rectus Abdominis Muscle in Pregnancy

The use of ultrasound to differentiate rectus sheath hematoma from other acute abdominal disorders

“…Frequently, however, hemorrhage occurs without obvious direct trauma or systemic disease. In these cases, the hematoma follows muscular straining, as in coughing and sneezing [16,25,29]; it may even develop after sports or childbirth [10,17,18,27]. The inelasticity of the artery and vein within the rectus sheath, which prevents the vessels from accommodating to sudden variations in length during contractions of Յ20 cm, has been proposed as an underlying factor (in addition to other conditions such as atherosclerosis, arteritis, aneurysm, or hypertension [10,15,16,19,22,29].…”