Internal mammary artery to pulmonary artery fistula.

ABSTRACT

A rare case of arteriovenous fistula between an internal mammary artery and a pulmonary artery is presented. The clinical history of recurrent bronchitis and dyspnoea during exercise, the presence of right parasternal murmur with normal heart size and normal blood gases justified the execution of an arteriovenous thoracic angiography which revealed the presence of a cirsoid aneurysm supplied by the internal and external mammary arteries. Diagnostic investigation and surgical indication in patients with the rare fistulous communication between the internal mammary artery and the systemic or pulmonary circulation are analysed.