Abstract
The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of anatomical variants of bronchial arteries using computed tomographic angiography in a population of northeastern Mexico. An observational, transversal, descriptive, comparative, retrospective study was performed using 139 imaging studies of Mexican patients in which we evaluated the following parameters from the left and right bronchial arteries: artery origin, branching pattern, arterial ostium, vertebral level of origin, diameter, and mediastinal trajectory. The anatomies of the bronchial arteries were similar in both genders, except distribution for vertebral origin level (p 0.006) and the diameter (p 0.013). Left and right arteries were similar, except for the mediastinal trajectory in reference to the esophagus (p < 0.001) as well as the arterial diameter (p < 0.001) and lumen diameter.
Highlights
Massive hemoptysis is a life-threatening clinical event [1]
We evaluated 139 angiograms by computed tomography angiography (CTA) (73 men; 66 women) from a population of Mexican patients
We showed that in our community there are anatomical variations in terms of numbers, arterial origin, branching pattern, vertebral level of origin, mediastinal trajectory, and diameter
Summary
Massive hemoptysis is a life-threatening clinical event [1]. Its main etiology is secondary to rupture of the bronchial arteries and rarely from other systemic arteries or the pulmonary artery [2]. Its location by imaging studies is the most important step to control bleeding [2]. They are defined as any artery which provide irrigation to the main bronchus originating between T5 and T6 of the descending aorta; those originating out of this region are considered ectopic [14]. Knowledge of anatomical variants could reduce the time of diagnosis and intervention, patient radiation, and embolization material costs. It could avoid complications such as ischemia from nonvisible anastomoses [3, 15,16,17,18]
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