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Pulmonary arteriovenous fistula   

Overview | Symptoms | Treatment | Prevention

Alternative names:

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation; Arteriovenous malformation - pulmonary

Definition:

An abnormal passageway between an artery and vein that occurs in the blood vessels of the lungs. this produces a right-to-left shunting of blood (blood is not oxygenated properly) and is present in as many as one third of cases of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (rendu-osler-weber disease).

There may not be any symptoms, or symptoms may include difficulty breathing or bloody sputum. other symptoms that may occur include blue skin (cyanosis), clubbing of the fingers (enlargement of the tips of the fingers), and a murmur heard with a stethoscope placed over the malformation. treatment may be unnecessary if there are no symptoms; symptomatic malformations may require surgical resection (cutting out) or embolization (clotting off).

Causes and Risks

Pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas are congenital (present at birth) malformations that result from abnormal development of the blood vessels of the lung.Patients with Rendu-Osler-Weber disease (ROWD), also called hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasis (HHT), frequently have abnormal blood vessel development at many sites in the body, including the lungs, brain, nasal passages, liver, and gastrointestinal organs.This condition is slightly more common in women than in men.

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