Umbilical haemorrhage--an unusual complication of cirrhosis.

A 59-year-old woman known to have micronodular cirrhosis presented with haemorrhage from the umbilicus. She eventually required exomphalectomy at which a huge patent umbilical vein was found and ligated. Selective coeliac and superior mesenteric angiography with late phase films confirmed a large umbilical vein filling from the left branch of the portal vein. So far as the author knows, umbilical haemorrhage as a complication of cirrhosis has never previously been reported.