Hemoptysis and pulmonary artery agenesis: case report

The combination of a pulmonary scintigram using radioactive labeled albumin macroaggregates (MAA) and a study of the circulation in the bronchial artery was performed in one patient. This noninvasive methodology showed that there was increased circulation to the vascular territory of the lung in which the pulmonary artery was missing. This could have resulted from abnormal communications between the bronchial artery and the pulmonary vessels or an increased blood supply to the right lung from bronchial arteries arising from the aorta. The absence of pulmonary circulation in the right lung was proved by the absence of radioactivity in the right lung after an intravenous injection of labeled albumin MAA.