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Home :: Family Health :: Haemoptysis Haemoptysis - Haemoptysis symptom, treatment, causes
Haemoptysis is mainly the coughing up of blood. Haemoptysis may be a sign of a serious disease such as LUNGCANCER, PNEUMONIA,TUBERCULOSIS, HEART DISEASE or lEUKAEMIA, and should be reported immediately to your doctor.
Haemoptysis is simply a medical term for coughing up blood. The blood can appear as flecks, streaks or can be quite massive in amount. It is not the same as Hematemesis, which refers to vomiting up blood. Haemoptysis can be due to bronchitis or pneumonia most commonly, but also to lung neoplasm, aspergilloma, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, coccidioidomycosis, pulmonary embolism, or pneumonic plague. In children it is commonly due to a foreign body in the respiratory tract. It can result from over-anticoagulation from treatment by drugs such as warfarin. Haemoptysis is a serious symptom and any person coming to a practitioner complaining of haemoptysis should be thoroughly investigated. Haemoptysis is preceded by cough and the blood may be mixed with mucoid or purulent sputum which contains bubbles of air. It is also necessary to distinguish bleeding from the nostrils or pharynx from haemoptysis. Treatment will depend on the diagnosis. Pulmonary tuberculosis should be treated with an effective anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy regimen of adequate duration. Only a few patients with pulmonary tuberculosis require surgery nowdays and surgery is usually reserved for complications of tuberculosis, or in patients with resistent organisms.
Causes of Haemoptysis
The common causes and risk factor's of Haemoptysis include the following:
- Acute Infection.
- Bronchiectasis.
- Pulmonary embolism.
- Bronchial carcinoma.
- Goodpasture's syndrome.
- Inhaled Foreign Body.
- Rupture of a blood vessel after vigorous coughing.
Symptoms of Haemoptysis
Some sign and symptoms related to Haemoptysis are as follows:
- Fevers.
- Dyspnoea.
- Night sweats.
- Changing cough.
- Weight loss.
- Chest pain.
Treatment of Haemoptysis
Here is list of the methods for treating Haemoptysis:
- Treatment will depend on the diagnosis. Pulmonary tuberculosis should be treated with an effective anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy regimen of adequate duration.
- Drugs such as ventolin and steroids are helpful in some patients who are breathless as they open up the airways.
- A few patients with pulmonary tuberculosis require surgery.
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