UCLA

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations develop in approximately 50% of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia patients. Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations are often treated with coil embolization therapy. We report a case of a 45-year-old female with multiple pulmonary arteriovenous malformations due to underlying hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia who had undergone 14 coil embolization procedures over 16 years. She presented with sudden onset severe, unremitting, nonproductive cough from a foreign body sensation in the airway. Computed tomography of the chest demonstrated a metallic foreign body extending from the left lower lobe of the lung into the left mainstem bronchus and trachea. Bronchoscopy-guided removal of the foreign body revealed an intact embolization coil placed 8 years prior to presentation had partially migrated through the vessel and airway walls into the airway lumen, extending from the left lower lobe bronchus to the left mainstem bronchus. Coil migration is a rare, but potentially dangerous, complication of coil embolization therapy.