[The treatment of hemoptysis by embolization of the systemic arteries (author's transl)].

The authors present their still limited experience of embolization of systemic arteries as the treatment of hemoptysis. Their cases illustrate the indications, contra-indications, causes of failure and effectiveness of this therapeutic method in pneumology. They had to refuse who patients: in the first, the pathological bronchial artery arose from a common trunk with the intercostal which gave rise to an anterior spinal artery. The second patient showed signs of medullary involvement on injection of a pathological right intercostal artery, which in their opinion is also a contra-indication of embolization, although no anterior spinal artery was demonstrated on the arteriogrammes. Six patients were treated by embolization. In the case of one patient, treatment was a failure owing to incomplete embolization. A main esophageal pedicle supplied a high flow bronchial artery anastomosis. These important collateral esophageal vessels compromize the effectiveness of bronchial embolization.