title: Pulmonary veins stenosis after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation as the cause of haemoptysis: three cases and a literature review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Haemoptysis is a common clinical symptom with a complicated aetiology. Patients usually visit pulmonologists initially and are misdiagnosed due to physician ignorance regarding the rare causes of haemoptysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report three cases of haemoptysis due to pulmonary vein stenosis accompanied by catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation and review the related literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The three patients presented haemoptysis and they all had the history of catheter ablation. They received kinds of non-invasive and invasive diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Finally they were confirmed to have pulmonary vein stenosis by either pulmonary angiography or thorax computed tomography three-dimensional reconstructions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Haemoptysis could be caused by pulmonary vein stenosis secondary to catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation. Doctors should be aware of this rare aetiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiration, Tianjin Chest Hospital, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Guoxin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecological Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Hu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiration, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Liangan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiration, Tianjin Chest Hospital, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Yuechuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiration, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhixin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
keywords: atrial fibrillation; catheter ablation; dyspnoea; haemoptysis; pulmonary vein stenosis