Spontaneous rupture of the liver. A complication of oral anticoagulant therapy.

Therapeutic doses of oral anticoagulants have been associated with spontaneous hemorrhage and rupture of apparently normal abdominal viscera. To our knowledge, this is the second reported case of such rupture involving the liver. The patient had sudden severe epigastric pain and signs of acute abdomen and shock. Discrete microscopic changes in the liver may precede massive hemorrhage.