Congenital pulmonary arteriovenous aneurysms

The authors analyse their diagnostic and therapeutic experience with 26 patients suffering from congenital pulmonary arteriovenous aneurysms. Symptoms of the disease were found to depend directly on the presence and volume of arterial blood shunted into the venous bed. The volume of shunted nonoxygenated blood varied between 20 and 48 p.c.; the reflux caused hypoxic hypoxaemia with HbO2art. = 91.2 +/- 1.43%; pO2art. = 63.6 +/- 5.54 mmHg. Aimed tomography and pulmonary angiography proved most advantageous in terms of diagnostic; with their aid it was possible to identify three variants of congenital pulmonary arteriovenous aneurysm: isolated, multiple and "of the capillary haemangioma type".