Bronchospasm precipitated by ethanol injection in arteriovenous malformation.

We present an interesting case of profound bronchospasm that we postulate was caused by injection of ethanol during embolization of a left transverse sinus dural fistula. There is excellent documentation in the literature of the development of transient pulmonary hypertension and decreased right-side cardiac output following embolization with this agent; however, there have been only anecdotal reports of a temporal relationship between ethanol embolization and bronchospasm. We present this case that occurred on the third ethanol embolization treatment series.