Endovascular Treatment of a Systemic-to-Pulmonary Artery Fistula: A Case Report

Abstract

Systemic-to-pulmonary artery fistulas are rare. This condition may be congenital, post-traumatic, or post-inflammatory and can cause infection, hemorrhage, or pulmonary hypertension. Here, we report a case of an intercostal-to-pulmonary artery fistula, incidentally detected during the evaluation of dyspnea in a 67-year-old female. Retrograde transcatheter coil embolization in a dilated draining pulmonary artery was initially attempted. However, another draining pulmonary artery developed after 5 months. The intercostal arteries or systemic feeders were successfully embolized through a transarterial access. At the 10-month follow-up, the abnormally dilated vessels had regressed, and dyspnea had improved. Sequential or simultaneous retro- and antegrade transcatheter embolization may successfully treat pleural arterio-arterial fistulas.

Keywords

• vascular fistula
• therapeutic embolization
• arterio-arterial fistula