Vaginal bleeding in childhood: a review of 51 patients.

A search of the medical records at the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street and Chelsea Hospital for Women, London, revealed 51 cases of vaginal bleeding in children under the age of 10 occurring in the years 1962 through 1977. The bleeding was caused by some form of precocious puberty in 37 patients (73 per cent). Eight of these patients had cyclical vaginal bleeding in the absence of secondary sexual development or advanced bone age. Fourteen patients (27 per cent) bled because of a local lesion and six of these had a malignant neoplasm of the genital tract.