Retroperitoneal bleeding hemodialysis patients. A cause for morbidity and mortality.

Retroperitoneal bleeding in hemodialysis patients has been rearely reported. The diagnosis of this entity in the nondialysis patient is difficult, and factors such as chronic anemia and hypotensive episodes during hemodialysis are adding difficulty to the early diagnosis and therapeutic approach. A patient receiving long-term hemodialysis anticoagulation therapy had retroperitoneal bleeding and died without having his condition diagnosed: the retroperitoneal bleeding was masked by other events occurring during hemodialysis.