Life-threatening hemoptysis has a 30 to 40% operative mortality when treated surgically during the acute episode.1,2 The description by Remy et al3 of bronchial artery embolotherapy (BAE) in 1973 provided a new interventional radiologic approach for managing hemoptysis and stabilizing the patient's condition.3 Despite widespread use of the technique since the initial report, there are relatively few analyses of short-term (first 30 days) and long-term (1 to 2 years) outcomes of this therapy. In this issue of CHEST (see page 996), Mal et al attempted a difficult retrospective study of factors influencing outcome in 56 patients treated by BAE over 12 years.
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Robert I. White (1999) studied this question.
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