SCINTIGRAPHIC LOCALIZATION OF THE BLEEDING SITE OF A LARGE RETROPERITONEAL HEMATOMA FOLLOWING RENAL ANGIOPLASTY

Although the scintigraphic detection of a few soft tissue hematomas ha ve been reported, these usually have been serendipitous discoveries th at were small and self-limited. The authors report a case of a large, rapidly expanding retroperitoneal hematoma that occurred following a l eft renal angioplasty. While the hematoma was initially detected by CT imaging, the precise source of the bleeding could not be definitively localized. Scintigraphy with labeled RBC cells, however, identified t he left femoral artery puncture site as the bleeding source, which was subsequently surgically repaired.