Round ligament varicosities: a rare cause of groin swelling in pregnancy
- PDF / 572,134 Bytes
- 4 Pages / 593.972 x 792 pts Page_size
- 72 Downloads / 150 Views
Abdominal Imaging
Abdom Imaging (2013) DOI: 10.1007/s00261-013-9984-9
Round ligament varicosities: a rare cause of groin swelling in pregnancy Ahmet Veysel Polat,1 Ramazan Aydin,1 Ayfer Kamali Polat,2 Ilsen Semiha Kececi,1 Gulay Karahan,1 Gulten Olmez Taskin1 1 2
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ondokuz Mayis, 55139, Atakum, Samsun, Turkey Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ondokuz Mayis, Samsun, Turkey
Abstract Round ligament varicosities (RLVs) are rare, and only occur in pregnancy. The swelling due to RLVs mimics an inguinal hernia and generally resolves spontaneously after delivery. Distinguishing between varicosities and hernias is critical to avoid unnecessary surgeries on pregnant women. We aimed to determine the significance of RLVs during pregnancy and to review and describe their clinical and sonographic characteristics. All patients were diagnosed by gray scale and color Doppler ultrasonography, managed conservatively, and RLVs regressed spontaneously postpartum. Key words: Round ligament—Varicosities—Inguinal hernia—Pregnancy—Color Doppler ultrasonography—Ultrasonography
Round ligament varicosities (RLVs) have been described in the medical literature in rare sporadic reports, and all cases have been described during pregnancy [1–4]. Groin swelling is a common finding of RLV during pregnancy, and it is typically observed early in the third trimester. Regression soon after delivery are common features of RLVs [1–3]. Because of their similar clinical features these varicosities are frequently misdiagnosed as complicated hernias and are sometimes treated with surgery [4]. Unnecessary surgical exploration during pregnancy is a critical problem due to its associated morbidity. Once an RLV is suspected, Doppler ultrasonography (US) can
Electronic supplementary material: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00261-013-9984-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Correspondence to: Ahmet Veysel Polat; email: [email protected]
confirm the diagnosis and possibly prevent unnecessary surgery [5]. We presented five cases of RLVs that were diagnosed during pregnancy and the patients’ follow-up evaluations after delivery.
Case reports We retrospectively reviewed the files of five patients with RLVs from February 2009 to April 2012. An approval was granted for the study by the Ethics Committee of our hospital. The patients were referred to the radiology department for ultrasound examinations of unilateral or bilateral groin masses. All US examinations of the groin were performed using an SSA-770A Aplio scanner equipped with a 12-MHz linear-array transducer (Toshiba Corp., Tokyo, Japan). Color Doppler US was performed with optimized color Doppler US parameters. The power level, threshold, persistence, and wall filter were individually adjusted to maximize the detection of blood flow through the field of view. If the gray-scale sonographic exam showed a mass in the groin that was composed of multiple echo-free, serp
Data Loading...
