Massive bleeding caused by bronchoscopic biopsy of an abnormal bronchial artery / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

A 39 years old woman was admitted to the hospital because of recurrent hemoptysis. On a bronchoscopic inspection, nodular shaped mass-like lesions were found on the orifice of right middle and lower lobar bronchus and a biopsy was performed. This was immediately followed by massive bleeding into the airways. The bleeding could not be controlled by nonsurgical treatment. Immediately she underwent a right middle and lower bilobectomy in order to control of bleeding. Biopsy revealed the bleeding to have been caused by a biopsy injury of an abnormal artery that had run superficially in the bronchial mucosa.