気管支動脈瘤の一例

抄録

A case of bronchial artery aneurysm was reported. A woman, aged 54 years, was seen with nasal bleeding but no previous bleeding tendency. At the same time, the patient also had bleeding in the oropharynx which seemed to come from the lower respiratory tract. Image diagnoses such as chest x-rays and CT scans, could not confirm a definitive cause until selected bronchial arteriography was employed. Selected bronchial angiography demonstrated a small bronchial artery aneurysm on the periphery of the upper trunk of the bronchial artery. After bronchial artery embolization, an upper lobectomy of the right lung was performed, resulting in success. In a specimen obtained at surgery, six small aneurysms with a diameter of 3 mm to 8 mm were found along the bronchial artery. Pathological findings included angitis of the bronchial artery, with irregular thickness of the arterial wall and thromboarteritis, implying the possibility of systemic arteritis such as aortitis and periarteritis nodosa. Both of these diseases were not indicated by the clinical findings, and their cause remains unknown.