Long term follow up of a series of patients with massive hemoptysis treated using bronchial artery embolization

Massive hemoptysis is an important medical emergency which needs immediate managements. There are different managements offered for this event but there is no universal accordance on management of massive hemoptysis. Available database is not adequate in this field.Here we aimed to present a series of Iranian patients with massive hemoptysis managed in Yazd.We entered 33 referred patients into our study with their own informed consent. The patients had already been diagnosed with their pathology. Except 5 patients, they all underwent embolization intervention. Tuberculosis and bronchiectasis were the most common causes of hemoptysis detected in 11 (39%) and 10 (35%) patients respectively. Other causes of hemoptysis in studied patients were primary pulmonary hypertension, Eisenmenger’s syndrome, lung tumor and cystic fibrosis. All patients underwent angiography and were treated using bronchial artery embolization technique. Five patients involved recurrent hemoptysis, accounting for 17% of the patients. Two patients involved unwanted complications of embolization therapy. Unfortunately, we recorded two related mortalities in our follow up. Our study showed that embolization technique is followed by a low rate of mortality and recurrence and remains as one of the most effective procedures for management of hemoptysis.