Unilateral left spontaneous adrenal haemorrhage in a middle aged male. A case report

Abstract

BACKGROUND : Adrenal haemorrhage is a rare condition, traditionally diagnosed at autopsy. Aetiology of adrenal haemorrhage can be traumatic or non-traumatic related. Rare cases of spontaneous adrenal haemorrhage, mostly from the right adrenal gland have been documented without any identifiable predisposing aetiologies. CASE PRESENTATION : A middle aged male with no comorbidities presented to the emergency department with non-specific signs and symptoms. There was no history of trauma and the haemoglobin was dropping. Initial investigations showed abdominal haematomas with no clear source. Taken to theatre, a diagnosis of a left spontaneous adrenal haemorrhage was made and left adrenalectomy was performed. CONCLUSION : Adrenal haemorrhage is associated with severe complications such as adrenal insufficiency, sepsis and death. The following report will explore one such case, of a patient diagnosed with spontaneous left adrenal haemorrhage that was complicated by sepsis and death.