Clinical features and outcomes of patients with spontaneous ilio-psoas hematoma (IPH) in intensive care units (ICUs) are poorly documented. The objectives of this study were to determine epidemiological, clinical, biological and management characteristics of ICU patients with IPH. The authors conducted a retrospective multicentric study in three French ICUs from January 2006 to December 2014. They included IPH diagnosed both at admission and during ICU stay. Surgery and embolization were available 24 h a day for each center, and therapeutic decisions were undertaken after pluridisciplinary discussion. All IPHs were diagnosed using CT scan. During this period, 3.01 cases/1000 admissions were identified. The mortality rate of the 77 included patients was 30 %. In multivariate analysis, the team observed that mortality was independently associated with SAPS II (OR 1.1, 95 % CI [1.013–1.195], p = 0.02) and with the presence of hemorrhagic shock (OR 67.1, 95 % CI [2.6–1691],p = 0.01). They found IPH was related to anticoagulation therapy in 56 cases (72 %), with guideline-concordant reversal performed in 33 % of patients. They did not found any association between anticoagulant therapy type and outcome.
In conclusion it was found that IPH is an infrequent disease, with a high mortality rate of 30 %, mostly related to anticoagulation therapy and usually affecting the elderly. Management of anticoagulation-related IPH includes a high rate of no reversal of 38 %.