Absence of the pulmonary artery

What it is

A rare vascular anomaly characterized by congenital absence of the right or left pulmonary artery, usually ending within 2 cm of its expected origin from the pulmonary trunk. Patients often also have other cardiovascular abnormalities and respective symptoms and are then typically diagnosed in infancy or childhood, while isolated cases generally present with a mild clinical course and may go undiagnosed until adulthood. Presenting clinical features in isolated cases include hemoptysis, exertional dyspnea, and recurrent respiratory infections. The condition is typically accompanied by marked changes of lung tissue and may, if unrecognized, result in massive hemoptysis and pulmonary hypertension.

Key facts

Prevalence

1-9 / 1 000 000 (annual incidence, Europe)

Age of onset

All ages

Inheritance

Not applicable

Classified as

Morphological anomaly

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

ICD-10 codes

ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references