Acute intramural haematoma of the coeliac artery

The report describes a previously healthy 24-year-old women presenting with acute abdominal pain following a hyperextension manoeuvre. The key finding of a continuous bruit with systolic and diastolic components in the epigastric region subsequently led to the diagnosis of an intramural haematoma of the coeliac artery, that caused a subtotal occlusion of the artery. The diagnosis was achieved by both colour-coded duplex sonography and magnetic resonance angiography. The case shows that a conservative management rather than operative reconstruction is justified in an oligo-symptomatic situation with no signs of end-organ damage as in this patient.