Intrapulmonary arterio-venous fistula - unusual early complication of wedge resection.

Abstract

We present a case of an arterio-venous fistula that developed in the early postoperative course after wedge resection of the right upper lobe. A 57-year old male treated for acute myeloid leukemia was referred from the hematology department because of a right upper lobe tumor. Wedge resection was performed. Three weeks later recurrent tumor was visualized on chest X-ray. Angio-CT diagnosed an arterio-venous fistula and the patient was scheduled for redo surgery. Completion upper lobectomy was performed and the pathological examination confirmed iatrogenic arterio-venous fistula. To our knowledge such an early complication has never been reported so far. Iatrogenic intrapulmonary arterio-venous fistulas are very rare. We present a case of such fistula that developed early after wedge resection of the right lung upper lobe tumor and presented as recurrent pulmonary mass. To the best of our knowledge this is the first description of such a case.