Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2009;36:764. doi:10.1016/j.ejcts.2009.05.028
Copyright © 2009, European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier. All rights reserved.
Images in cardio-thoracic surgery |
Identification of a hypertrophied bronchial artery using three-dimensional computed tomography
Sébastien Anguillea,*,
Rodrigo Salgadob,
Sofie Daineffeb,
Paul M. Parizelb
a Antwerp University Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Antwerp, Belgium
b Antwerp University Hospital, Department of Radiology, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Antwerp, Belgium
Received 26 December 2008;
received in revised form 15 May 2009;
accepted 19 May 2009.
* Corresponding author. Address: Antwerp University Hospital, Wilrijkstraat 10, B-2650 Edegem, Belgium. Tel.: +32 3 821 56 96; fax: +32 3 821 42 86. (Email: sebastien.anguille{at}uza.be).
Key Words: Imaging • Computed tomography • Bronchiectasis • Bronchial artery embolisation
A 56-year-old woman, presenting with bronchiectasis (Fig. 1
), underwent a chest computed tomography (CT) with three-dimensional reconstructions showing marked hypertrophy of the bronchial arteries (Fig. 2
, Video 1). This pathophysiological phenomenon places the patient at high risk for haemoptysis. While generally managed by bronchial artery embolisation, haemoptysis might require thoracic surgical intervention.
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Fig. 1. (A) High-resolution CT showing marked bronchial dilatation and bronchial wall thickening consistent with bronchiectasis. (B) Axial CT section with mediastinal window settings. Notice the presence of a hypertrophied bronchial artery, appearing as several nodular and linear densities along the central airways (some depicted by white arrows).
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Fig. 2. The anatomical origin (black arrow) and course of the dilated and meandering bronchial artery is clearly depicted using 3-D computed tomography volume-rendering.
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Appendix A
Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.ejcts.2009.05.028.
