Traumatic liver rupture in pregnancy

Abstract

Two pregnant women, 1 in the second trimester and 1 in the third trimester, sustained blunt liver trauma as unrestrained drivers in motor vehicle accidents. One patient had an overt injury that was apparent on computerized tomography and underwent surgical exploration when nonreassuring fetal monitoring occurred. The second patient, discharged after 23 hours of normal observation, returned a day later with overt intra-abdominal hemorrhage from an obvious liver laceration. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 1999;180:1030-1.)