Background To prospective evaluate the role and clinical efficacy of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) angiography before bronchial artery embolization (BAE) for the management of hemoptysis, and to investigate the predictors of early recurrence.Methods From August 2019 to July 2020, a double-center study of 57 patients with hemoptysis referred for BAE underwent MDCT angiography before. A prospective analysis of culprit arteries detected by MDCT angiography allowed evaluation of the role of this technique. Follow-up was done for assessment of the efficacy of BAE with preprocedural MDCT angiography and to explore the risk factors of early recurrent hemoptysis.Results The accuracy of MDCT angiography in the identification of culprit arteries was as high as 97.5%. The average number of total culprit arteries per patient was 2.75 \(\pm\) 1.73, among them the average number of culprit ectopic bronchial arteries (BAs) and non-bronchial systemic arteries (NBSAs) per patient were 0.21 \(\pm\) 0.41 and 1.04 \(\pm\) 1.57, respectively. The immediate clinical success, total hemoptysis recurrence rate, and early hemoptysis recurrence rate of BAE following MDCT angiography were 94.7%, 18.5%, 16.7%, respectively. Aspergilloma (HR 6.63, 95% CI 1.31–33.60, p = 0.022) was associated with an increase in the risk of early recurrence.Conclusions MDCT angiography should be performed before BAE for the management of hemoptysis. Aspergilloma was an independent predictor for early recurrence.