Bronchial artery embolisation in management of hemoptysis--A retrospective analysis in a tertiary university hospital.

BACKGROUND: Bronchial artery embolisation (BAE) becomes a mainstay in the treatment of hemoptysis. OBJECTIVE: To characterise patients with hemoptysis undergoing bronchial artery angiography (BAA) for embolisation, evaluating outcomes. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated patients with acute severe or chronic recurrent hemoptysis admitted to the Pulmonology department and submitted to BAA for purpose of embolisation. RESULTS: A total of 88 patients were submitted to BAA, 47 (53.4%) were male, with a mean age of 61.4 ± 15.8 years. In 64 (72.7%) patients, hemoptysis presented as chronic recurrent episodes. Hemoptysis was considered severe in 40 (45.5%) patients. Bronchiectasis (other than cystic fibrosis) (n=35; 38.0%) and tuberculosis sequelae (n=31; 35.2) were the major aetiology for hemoptysis. The main angiographic abnormality was hypertrophy and tortuosity (n=68; 77.3%). BAE was performed in 67 (76.1%) of the 88 patients submitted to BAA. Immediate success was achieved in 66 (98.5%) patients. Recurrence of hemoptysis occurred in 25 (37.3%) patients, and was related to presence of shunting (p=0.049). The procedure-related complications were self-limited. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that BAE is a safe and effective treatment for acute severe and chronic recurrent hemoptysis, supporting the current literature. Besides this, bleeding recurrence was relatively high, and correlated with presence of systemic pulmonary shunting.