Hemoperitoneum after spontaneous rupture of liver tumor: results of surgical treatment.

Five cases of massive hemoperitoneum caused by spontaneous rupture of liver tumors, collected during a 27-year period, are reported. Four patients had a primary liver malignancy and one patient a liver cyst with hemangioma. Initial symptoms were obscure and hemoperitoneum was suspected pre-operatively in only one patient. At operation, a mean of 3100 ml of blood was found in the abdomen. Hemostatis was achieved by liver resection in four patients and by suture ligation in one. Two patients died during or shortly after operation. The three patients surviving the operation had primary liver cancer and lived for 6 months to 6.5 years. It is concluded that liver resection, whenever possible, is the treatment of choice and that pre-operative delay and mortality may be diminished by increased awareness of this condition.