Spontaneous intercostal artery bleeding in a hemodialysis patient

Abstract

Spontaneous rupture of an intercostal artery (ICA) is a rare but could be a life-threatening emergency requiring prompt diagnosis and intervention for optimal outcome. We report a patient presented with swelling in his right-side back which started immediately after scheduled hemodialysis and continued to increase in size. Contrast computed tomography scan revealed soft tissue attenuated lesion with internal enhancing dots which suggested expanding hematoma with active bleeding. Arteriography detected focal contrast extravasation from seventh ICA, and transcatheter arterial embolization was successfully done. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing spontaneous bleeding of ICA in a hemodialysis patient.

Keywords: Intercostal artery; embolization; end stage renal disease; hemodialysis; spontaneous bleeding.