minor fall leading to fatal rupture of solitary giant sub-capsular cavernous haemangioma of liver: a case report

background : the liver which is a vascular organ can easily be lacerated or crushed, depending on the severity of trauma. case report: a 55 year-old lady who fell down was taken to a hospital within one hour and died two hours post-trauma. an autopsy revealed rupture a large sub capsular vascular lesion situated on the right lobe of liver with hemoperitoneum. there was a deep contusion on the abdominal wall adjacent to the costal margin on the right side, roughly overlying the rupture, but the skin showed no evidence of injury on external examination. histopathology revealed that the lesion was a giant cavernous haemangioma of the liver which was undetected prior to the incident. conclusion: certain conditions like fatty liver disease, polycystic disease and cavernous haemangioma can predispose liver injury, even with considerably less amount of force than is ordinarily required.