PULMONARY AVM EMBOLISATION

What is pulmonary AVM:

• Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation (PAVM) is a rare anomaly of the lung that affects blood flow between the heart and the lungs.
• Affected people have an abnormal connection between the pulmonary vein (carries blood from the lungs to the heart) and pulmonary artery (carries blood from the heart to the lungs).
• Some people will have more than one PAVM; in more than half of patients with multiple PAVM this is associated with a condition called Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangectasia.
• Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations are usually congenital. 

What are the symptoms:

• Most patients are asymptomatic, but connection between the venous and arterial system can lead to difficulty in breathing (due to right-to-left shunting), as well as embolic events (leads to stroke or angina).

How they can be treated:

• The aims of treatment of PAVM are to block the PAVM and reduce the risk of stroke, heart failure and improve breathlessness.
• Endovascular therapy is a minimally invasive treatment wherein the feeding artery to the PAVM is occluded with coils or plugs or a combination of both.
• This endovascular treatment is effective as well as safe.

What are benefits of pulmonary AVM embolization:

• As there is no incision, patient gets discharge on next day and able to resume its routine activity.
• Reduce risk of stroke, heart failure and improve breathlessness

Preparation for procedure:

• Few basic blood investigations like CBC, PT/INR, viral markers.
• Bring all the records including imaging record.
• Signing consent form.

What are risks:

• Non-target embolization, chest pain (<1 case in 100).