[Diagnosis of hematomas in the Retzius space during anticoagulant therapy. Prospective study (11 cases)].

During a three-year, prospective study carried out at the Saint Jacques Hospital, Nantes, France, in a group of 33 patients with echographically identified intra-abdominal hematoma, 11 cases of Retzius' space hematoma were detected in patients under anticoagulant treatment (heparin or antivitamin K). This suggests that the frequency of this complication is greater than supposed. The authors emphasize two aspects of Retzius' space hematoma: on one hand, clinical symptomatology, especially involving the urinary system (transient oliguria or oligoanuria in 7 of the 11 cases), on the other, ultrasonic diagnosis (slip-page of the intraperitoneal contents along the posterior surface of the hematoma, rupture sign, denoting diffusion of the hematoma immediately below the Douglas' arch). Ordinarily, the clinical course of this complication of rectus sheath hematoma is spontaneously favorable.