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.