Massive hemoptysis

Massive haemoptysis is rare, but a threat due to the risk of asphyxia. The role of thoracic CT angiography in its management remains to be defined. The objectives of our study were to describe the role of thoracic CT angiography in determining the site of bleeding by comparing its data with those of conventional pre-embolisation angiography.Descriptive study of 58 radio-clinical records of patients admitted to the Pneumology Department of Mohamed Taher Maâmouri Hospital in Nabeul or Sahloul Hospital in Sousse with massive haemoptysis investigated by CTTA.CT scan revealed recent bleeding in 79.3% of cases. The most frequent cause of bleeding was bronchiectasis. The concordance between CT and angiography in the detection of culprit bronchial systemic arteries (BSA) and non-bronchial systemic arteries (NBSA) was 91.3% and 80% respectively. TDCT had a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 62.5% for the detection of culprit ASBs and 80% and 84.6% for the detection of culprit ASNBs. ATDM was more sensitive than angiography in the detection of ASNB.