Heavy vaginal bleeding, post termination of pregnancy: not always retained products of conception

Abstract

Vaginal bleeding, post suction evacuation is a common presentation both to the emergency department and to general practitioners. Though the most common cause of vaginal bleeding, post-surgical evacuation is retained products of conception, a rare cause of catastrophic bleeding is uterine arteriovenous malformation (AVM). There are fewer than 100 cases of uterine AVM reported in the literature however, it is a potential life threatening condition and it is important for this differential to be considered when faced with a patient who presents with heavy vaginal bleeding. We describe a case of a 32 year old patient who presented to the emergency department with heavy vaginal bleeding, post termination of pregnancy, secondary to a uterine arteriovenous malformation who was managed expectantly.