[Late presentation of a traumatic pulmonary arteriovenous malformation]

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVM) are rare, and most often of congenital origin. Among secondary causes of PAVM, trauma is exceptional.

We describe here one such case, discovered very late over twenty years after a thoracic perforing wound. Recent vascular imaging techniques (angio-CT scanning and -RMI) have largely contributed to their diagnosis, but direct pulmonary arteriography remains the reference technique preoperatively when surgery is required. In all cases, treatment is as conservative as possible, and embolization of small sized PAVM, even multiple, by coils has become the standard procedure. However, surgery is required when the PAVM is large and/or proximal, particularly when its feeding vessel is complex. Itwas the case of our patient, who has been cured by a lobectomy.

PAVM are rare but should be sytematically searche for in case of hypoxemia along with a pulmonary nodule.