[A case of congenital pulmonary varices]

Pulmonary varices are rare disorders (only 72 published cases), and are most often congenital in origin, asymptomatic and have a benign outcome. In some cases the appearance of varices is favoured by pulmonary venous hypertension which is most often related to mitral valve disease, or it is associated with other vascular or bronchial malformations. We present a new case of isolated pulmonary varices occurring in an asymptomatic young woman aged 20. The pulmonary radiological abnormality was confirmed using computed tomography which showed that the abnormality was both of vascular origin and of venous composition. Digital subtraction angiography during the venous phased confirmed the diagnosis. There was no associated cardiomyopathy, nor any bronchial or vascular malformation. No surgical intervention was taken, nor was there any clinical or radiological change observed during follow-up over one year. The diagnosis of pulmonary varices is an important one to make, particularly to avoid an unnecessary thoracotomy, but there should always be a systemic search for associated anomalies.