Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia and Pulmonary Arteriovenous Fistula

The Brain in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia

“…2 ' 8 The most frequently described visceral vascular anomaly is the arteriovenous fistula of the lung. Pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas occurred in 15.4% of individuals affected by the disease in the kinship reported by Hodgson et al 4 Conversely, about 50% of pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas are said to occur in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia." of the central nervous system.…”

“…4 Others have contended that CNS symptoms in HHT are rarely due to vascular anomalies, but are most often due to hypoxemia, polycythemia, embolism and brain abscess arising as complications of pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas which are common in individuals with this disease. 10 Surgical, radiological, or autopsy documentation of cerebral vascular anomalies in…”

Complex Thoracic Fistula in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia

“…Hemoptysis is remarkable, however, the fiberoptic bronchoscopy did not reveal the presence of bronchial telan giectasia [7], which, although rarely de scribed, might have been a reason. The moderately lowered arterial partial oxy gen pressure is probably associated with a bronchial hemorrhage, as demonstrated by the improvement of the hypoxemia a few days after the hemoptoic episode.…”

Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations and Migraine: A New Vision

“…The relationship between HHT and headache was for the first time suggested by Hodgson et al [25] in 1959. They described 231 persons out of 331 members of a large HHT family.…”

“…Almost 40% of them probably had HHT. Four of these patients (4.4%) had unexplained symptoms related to the central nervous system, such as headache and transitory episodes of paresthesia, speech defects, weakness of a hand or leg, faintness, vertigo and visual disturbances [25]. The prevalence of migraine in HHT patients (with or without PAVMs) varies between 16 and 57% [26,27,28,29].…”