Diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas

Pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas are rare malformations often associated with Rendu-Osler-Weber (ROW) disease. Morbidity and mortality are significant and arise from hemorrhagic and neurological complications. We report the cases of two patients, mother and son, with earlier diagnoses of ROW disease, who suffered, respectively, a stroke and a brain abscess with massive pulmonary thromboembolism. Helicoid computed axial tomographic scans demonstrated pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas in both. Given these findings, we performed embolotherapy.