Massive haemoptysis caused by congenital absence of a segment of inferior vena cava.

Abstract

A patient with congenital absence of a part of the inferior vena cava is described. This resulted in spontaneous rupture of a bronchial vein leading to massive haemoptysis. (Thorax 1993;48:1044-1045) Anomalies of the inferior vena cava are often discovered incidentally during imaging studies performed for other reasons, since patients with these abnormalities are usually asymptomatic. Haemoptysis as a presenting feature of interrupted inferior vena cava has not been previously reported. We describe a patient presenting with massive haemoptysis.