Timely diagnosis of pulmonary artery tumor embolism by ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration.

Pulmonary artery tumor embolism (PATE) is a rare disease without an established diagnostic method. In an autopsy series, however, the incidence of PATE was relatively high, between 3% and 26% in patients with a solid tumor. Here we report a case of a patient with a massive PATE from hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosed safely and promptly by endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration.