Life-threatening hemoptysis due to left inferior phrenic artery to pulmonary artery fistula rescued by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy

Abstract

Life-threatening hemoptysis due to bronchiectasis is an emergency and needs immediate bronchial angiographic embolization or surgical intervention. Most of the bleeding events arise from the bronchial artery. We report a very rare case of a patient who had bronchiectasis, but with bleeding from the left phrenic artery to pulmonary artery fistula, an artery originating from abdominal aorta. In this case, we also demonstrate that extracorporeal membrane oxygenation without heparinization as a bridge tool for life-threatening hemoptysis could allow the patient to undergo definite therapy more successfully. © 2011 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.