Point-of-care Ultrasound Aiding in the Diagnosis of Herlyn-Werner-Wunderlich Syndrome

• Main Authors: Robert Ellspermann, Caroline Sirhari, Ethan Chapin, Mathew Nelson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: eScholarship Publishing, University of California 2017-10-01
• Series: Clinical Practice and Cases in Emergency Medicine
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6rq8x3qt

We present a case of a 12-year-old female with a history of congenital solitary kidney presenting to an academic pediatric emergency department (ED) in acute abdominal pain. Using ultrasound as the initial diagnostic modality, the patient was found to have Herlyn-Werner-Wunderlich syndrome (HWWS), an abnormal development of the Müllerian system during embryogenesis resulting in obstructed hemivagina with resulting hematometrocolpos. The patient presented with undifferentiated abdominopelvic pain, and in the course of the ED workup was diagnosed with a disorder infrequently encountered by emergency physicians. We present a case of markedly abnormal point-of-care ultrasound findings prompting additional studies, ultimately leading to a diagnosis of HWWS during the initial ED visit.