Abstract

A 35 year old woman with multiple pulmonary arterial stenoses and occlusions was admitted with increasingly severe breathlessness. Balloon angioplasty of a life threatening stenosis in a remaining pulmonary artery branch was attempted on two occasions but without success. When a self-expanding stainless steel stent was inserted at the site of stenosis after a further angioplasty acute localised pulmonary oedema developed as blood flow distal to the lesion increased considerably. This was followed by a slow and dramatic improvement in the patient's condition. She no longer required an urgent transplant and resumed an active life.