Clinical effectiveness of responsible arteries embolisation for the manaeg ment of haemoptysis

HUANG He; LI Bin; ZHOU Hua; YAN Xiaobin; SUN Peng; CHU Jianguo; SHI Huiping

Abstract：Objective To evaluate the immediate and long-term results of arterial embolisation in the management of haemop-tysis and to identify factors influencing outcome .Methods A retrospective analysis was carried out of the medical records and angiograms of 25 patients who underwent transarterial embolisation for haemoptysis .Results The causes of haemoptysis included tuberculosis (20%), bronchiectasis (16%), idiopathic(16%), aspergilloma (12%), non-small cell lung cancer (12%), pneumonia (12%) , and others (12%) .A total of 63 bronchial and non-bronchial systemic arteries were embolised and immedi-ate cessation of haemoptysis was achieved in all patients .Haemoptysis was controlled in 18 patients ( 72%) , recurred in 7 (28%) during 6 months.The worst outcomes were observed in patients with aspergilloma: all three suffered recurrent bleeding and 1 (33%) died from massive haemoptysis .Aspergilloma was also associated with an increased risk of haemoptysis recurrence ( P <0.05).Complication rates were low and included transient chest pain , fever, and no injury of spinal cord.Conclusion Selective arterial embolization is an effective , safe and feasible procedure for haemoptysis control in most cases .However, high re-currence and mortality rates are associated with aspergilloma , embolization should be done again if necessary .