Vaginal bleeding in the prepubertal girl is an uncommon condition with complex aetiological factors. We report a case of a 6-year-old girl brought to hospital when vaginal bleeding was noticed after defecation. Various common causes were excluded by genital and auxiliary examinations. Serial vaginoscopy revealed increasing petechiae within the non-oestrogenised cervix and vaginal wall. The aetiology of these petechiae was considered to result from ruptured small blood vessels or submucosal capillaries due to an increase in abdominal pressure. CONCLUSION: This case report and review of literature has shed new light on the aetiology of prepubertal bleeding, which details challenging clinical characteristics of use to gynaecologists in the evaluation of related conditions and formulation of appropriate treatment regimens.
Keywords: increasing abdominal pressure; prepubertal girl; spontaneous rupture of small blood vessels; vaginal bleeding.
© 2020 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.