Post-partum ovarian vein thrombosis

Abstract

Post-partum ovarian vein thrombosis (POVT) is uncommon, but the true incidence is not known. Ninety per cent of cases present as right iliac fossa pain within 10 days of delivery. Anti-coagulation and intravenous antibiotics are the mainstay of treatment. We report three cases that were referred to our unit. These cases illustrate the difficulty in the clinical diagnosis of POVT and highlight the importance of its inclusion in the differential diagnoses of an acute abdomen in post-partum patients. POVT can be accurately diagnosed by appropriate noninvasive investigations and a laparotomy avoided.