Hemoptysis Information & Hemoptysis Links at HealthHaven.com

Hemoptysis
ICD-10	R04.2
ICD-9	786.3
DiseasesDB	5578
MedlinePlus	003073
MeSH	D006469

Hemoptysis or haemoptysis is the expectoration (coughing up) of blood or of blood-stained sputum from the bronchi, larynx, trachea, or lungs (e.g. in tuberculosis or other respiratory infections).

[edit] Causes

This can be due to bronchitis or pneumonia most commonly, but also to lung neoplasm (in smokers, when hemoptysis is persistent), aspergilloma, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, coccidioidomycosis, pulmonary embolism, or pneumonic plague.

Rarer causes include hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT or Rendu-Osler-Weber syndrome), or Goodpasture's syndrome and Wegener's granulomatosis.

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.

Cardiac causes like congestive heart failure and mitral stenosis should be ruled out.

The origin of blood can be known by observing its color. Bright red, foamy blood comes from the respiratory tract while dark red, coffee-colored blood comes from the gastrointestinal tract.

Extensive injury can cause one to cough up blood.

It can be sometimes be confused with mucus from the sinus or nose area, which can be a sign of nasal or sinus cancer, but also a sinus infection.

[edit] Diagnostic workup

[edit] External links

Haemoptysis at GPnotebook
Haemoptysis Virtual Cancer Centre