Hemoperitoneum may occur in various emergent conditions. In the trauma setting, evidence of intraperitoneal blood depicted at computed tomography (CT) should lead the radiologist to conduct a careful search of images for the injured visceral organ (the liver or spleen). Specific CT signs, such as a sentinel clot or extravasation of intravascular contrast material, may indicate the source of bleeding and help direct management. In addition, the configuration of accumulated blood may help identify the injured organ; for example, triangular fluid collections are observed in the mesentery most often in the setting of bowel or mesenteric injury. Less commonly, hemoperitoneum may have a nontraumatic origin. Iatrogenic hemoperitoneum may occur as a complication of surgery or other interventional procedures in the abdominal cavity or as a result of anticoagulation therapy. Hemoperitoneum also may be seen in the setting of blood dyscrasias such as hemophilia and polycythemia vera. Tumor-associated hemorrhage, which most often occurs in hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic adenoma, or vascular metastatic disease, also may produce hemoperitoneum. Other potential causes of nontraumatic hemoperitoneum are gynecologic conditions such as hemorrhage or rupture of an ovarian cyst and rupture of the gestational sac in ectopic pregnancy, and hepatic hematoma in syndromic hemolysis with elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count (HELLP syndrome). Vascular lesions (visceral artery aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms) that occur in systemic vascular diseases such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or in pancreatitis are another less common source of hemoperitoneum.

During the past decade, unenhanced computed tomography (CT) has become the standard of reference in the detection of urinary calculi owing to its high sensitivity (>95%) and specificity (>98%) in this setting. Numerous diseases may manifest as acute flank pain and mimic urolithiasis. Up to one-third of unenhanced CT examinations performed because of flank pain may reveal unsuspected findings unrelated to stone disease, many of which can help explain the patient's condition. Alternative diagnoses are most commonly related to gynecologic conditions (especially adnexal masses) and nonstone genitourinary disease (eg, pyelonephritis, renal neoplasm), closely followed by gastrointestinal disease (especially appendicitis and diverticulitis). Hepatobiliary, vascular, and musculoskeletal conditions may also be encountered. Vascular causes of acute flank pain must always be considered, since these constitute life-threatening emergencies that may require the intravenous administration of contrast material for diagnosis. Radiologists must be familiar with the typical findings of urinary stone disease at unenhanced CT, as well as the spectrum of alternative diagnoses that may be detected with this modality, to accurately diagnose the source of flank pain.

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In this study 163 patients had long term follow ups after PTA; the value of a test which had previously hardly been used, the "Cox proportional hazards model", for prognostic purposes is stressed. In this test account is taken of the severity of the stenosis before PTA, the extent of re-stenosis following PTA and the distance of the occlusion from the aorta and these are related to the likelihood of success. The use of the Cox proportional hazards model with an accurate description of the clinical material and the use of the Kaplan-Meier method is recommended in order to obtain comparable figures for the results obtained in various centres. In this study patency after six months was 77%, after a year 67%, after three years 46% and after five years 37%.