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CASE REPORT
An unusual cause of Grey Turner's sign
  1. Oliver Burton Gosling1,
  2. Alison Emma Hunter2,
  3. Gray Alexander Dyfan Edwards1,
  4. Benjamin Squires1
  1. 1Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, UK
  2. 2Department of General Surgery, Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, UK
  1. Correspondence to Oliver Burton Gosling, oliver.gosling{at}doctors.org.uk

Summary

A woman in her late 70s presented to the acute general surgical take with a 3-day history of worsening right leg pain and swelling. She had undergone right revision total hip arthroplasty 20 months previously and reported chronic postoperative right thigh pain attributed to a femoral deep venous thrombosis for which she had been warfarinised. On examination, Grey Turner's sign (bruising of the flanks indicating retroperitoneal haemorrhage) was present, as well as a large tender mass in the right iliac fossa and pitting oedema throughout the right lower limb. Urgent CT scan with intravenous contrast revealed a right retroperitoneal haematoma secondary to a right acetabular screw protruding into the right external iliac vein. The patient was successfully managed with warfarin reversal and surgical removal of the relevant acetabular screw. At 2-month follow-up, the patient's symptoms continue to resolve.

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