Hemoptysis in an elderly man with RENDU-Osler-Weber disease
Rendu-Osler-Weber disease, also known as hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia, is a genetic disease characterized by an autosomal dominant transmission that causes multiple angiodysplasic lesions, and multiple arteriovenous malformations. Among these, pulmonary arteriovenous malformation is the most common, and is found in approximately 70% of patients that suffer from this syndrome. In a representative population sample, it is recognized that 90% of the patients that have a pulmonary arteriovenous malformation suffer in fact from Rendu-Osler-Weber disease. This article presents the case of an 85 year-old man that, in the course of a pulmonary infection, develops haemoptysis and epistaxis, and in whom a voluminous pulmonary arteriovenous malformation is discovered.