Idiopathic aneurysm of pulmonary artery

Because it is a very rare isolated lesion, we decided to present this case of idiopathic pulmonary artery aneurysm (IPAA) and review the cases published in the literature in order to correlate our clinical and imaging findings, as well as management based on patient data. IPAA was first described in a case of autopsy by Bristowe in 1860 and later in 1947 by Deterling and Claggett, whose prevalence was lower than eight to one hundred thousand. Although the use of diagnostic imaging methods has been applied in a very large population in recent decades, this lesion has been most often described in postmortem examinations. Therefore, it is important to be aware of possible clinical symptoms, at times non-specific, as well as the signs on imaging studies. In this study, therefore, the report of a case of an asymptomatic patient whose diagnosis was done through color Doppler echocardiography in a routine test in 2012, later confirmed by simple chest computed tomography (chest CT) and cardiac catheterization as IPAA and its branches. We discussed the literature available and the possibilities for treatment and the use of color Doppler echocardiography as an initial diagnostic tool for such a rare and intriguing disease. (author)