• E C Leibner.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Hutzel Hospital, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
• Ann Emerg Med. 1995 Nov 1;26(5):643-6.

AbstractA 30-year-old woman presented to the emergency department with nonspecific abdominal pain 17 days after voluntary vacuum aspiration interruption of a first-trimester pregnancy. Physical examination and laboratory evaluation demonstrated mild diffuse abdominal tenderness without peritoneal signs and a mildly increased WBC count, respectively. When the patient's condition failed to improve she was admitted, and exploratory laparotomy was performed 5 days later. It revealed two uterine perforations, one of which contained incarcerated omentum with associated ischemic small bowel and complete small-bowel obstruction. Although uterine perforation with intraabdominal injury is a well-described complication of vacuum aspiration termination of pregnancy, most postabortion perforations go undetected. Delayed presentation of an acute complication is rarely observed.

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