Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Mar;24(1):119-23.
doi: 10.1055/s-2007-971202.

Pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysm: etiology, presentation, diagnosis, and treatment

Vaishali Lafita  1 , Marc A Borge, Terrence C Demos
Affiliations

Pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysm: etiology, presentation, diagnosis, and treatment

Vaishali Lafita et al. Semin Intervent Radiol. 2007 Mar.

Abstract

Pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysms (PAPs) are uncommon but associated with high mortality. Left untreated, lesions can enlarge, rupture, and lead to exsanguination and death. Presentations range from life-threatening hemorrhage to silent lesions that enlarge for days, months, or years. Because abnormalities on imaging studies can lead to early diagnosis and treatment and embolization is the treatment of choice, the radiologist can contribute to both timely diagnosis and treatment of PAPs. Pseudoaneurysms due to penetrating trauma, blunt trauma, bacterial endocarditis, and complications related to pulmonary artery catheters and right heart catheterization are presented. Three were treated by embolization.

Keywords: Pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysm.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Swan-Ganz catheter injury resulted in acute hemoptysis in 77-year-old man with bladder carcinoma hours after pulmonary artery catheter placement. (A) Chest radiograph reveals area of right upper lobe consolidation (asterisk). (B) Pulmonary artery angiogram shows pseudoaneurysm (arrow), which was successfully embolized with coils (C).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Pulmonary artery aneurysm secondary to cardiac catheterization in a 79-year-old woman resulted in massive hemoptysis during the procedure. (A) Initial computed tomography (CT) scan demonstrates large right upper lobe pseudoaneurysm (arrow). Because patient was high-risk surgical candidate, conservative management with serial CT studies was elected. (B) Partial thrombosis and decrease in size of pseudoaneurysm (arrow) was seen on 5-month follow-up study.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mycotic pseudoaneurysm in 26-year-old heroin user. Patient had massive hemoptysis due to septic emboli to lungs after tricuspid valve replacement for subacute bacterial endocarditis. (A) Pulmonary angiogram reveals left upper lobe pseudoaneurysm (arrow). After embolotherapy (B), coils are seen in pseudoaneurysm and feeding artery (arrow).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Chronic pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysm from blunt trauma in 53-year-old man with remote history of motor vehicle accident. (A) Three-dimensional reconstruction from chest computed tomography angiogram shows large right lower lobe pseudoaneurysm (arrow) supplied by enlarged pulmonary artery branch (arrowhead). (B) Pulmonary angiogram demonstrates packing of coils into feeding artery (arrow).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Traumatic pseudoaneurysm in 38-year-old man with gunshot injury to left anterior chest wall. Pulmonary angiogram shows pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysm (arrow) involving origin of apical posterior segment of left pulmonary artery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Donaldson B, Ngo-Nonga B. Traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the pulmonary artery: case report and review of the literature. Am Surg. 2002;68:414–416. - PubMed
    1. Poplausky M R, Rozenblit G, Rundback J H, Crea G, Maddineni S, Leonardo R. Swan-Ganz catheter-induced pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysm formation: three case reports and a review of the literature. Chest. 2001;120:2105–2111. - PubMed
    1. Podbielski F J, Wiesman I M, Yaghmai B, Owens C A, Benedetti E, Massad M G. Pulmonary artery pseudoaneurysm after tube thoracostomy. Ann Thorac Surg. 1997;64:1478–1480. - PubMed
    1. Pelage J P, El Hajjam M, Lagrange C, et al. Pulmonary artery interventions: an overview. Radiographics. 2005;25:1653–1667. - PubMed
    1. Abreu A R, Campos M A, Krieger B P. Pulmonary artery rupture induced by a pulmonary artery catheter: a case report and review of the literature. J Intensive Care Med. 2004;19:291–296. - PubMed