HWN Suggests

A comical story; warning to all CFers. (In regards to Hemoptysis)

One magical day in the heat (104* F) of my lovely old town, inside an apartment without central air-conditioning, I had a really bad chest cold and NON-STOP sinus headaches for weeks. ALSO, NOBODY EVER TOLD ME NOT TO TAKE ADVIL. Sooooo naturally I was popping like 3 Advil per day for like 2 weeks. THEN I figured, "HEY, I just got done working out at the gym bench pressing and weight lifting. I should go take a nap."

SOOOOO I was napping and then I woke up to do the normal cough and roll over to another side.... WHENNN SPLATTTTTT a complete mouthful of a hot liquid went all over my bed sheets. The first thing that ran through my mind was, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? THESE ARE 1,000…

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Articles of Interest

Coughing up blood, a dangerous symptom

If I am a diagnostic stud, whenever a patient coughs blood, I check for TB, and cancer, you see. And I won’t drag my name in the mud.

Drowning in your own Blood: Managing Massive Hemoptysis

In cases of life-threatening hemoptysis, control of the airway is the first priority. Intubation with an ETT 8.0 or greater is strongly preferred. Flexible bronchoscopes can be passed through a smaller tube, but rigid bronchoscopy requires larger tubes.

How to quickly zero in on the diagnosis Hemoptysis

Hemoptysis generates great concern for both the patient and the clinician. Although massive hemoptysis occurs infrequently, it must be recognized promptly and dealt with appropriately to minimize the risk of mortality.

My Experience with Massive Hemoptysis

Nearly 12 hours after I began experiencing massive hemoptysis I was in ICU waiting for embolization.

What Causes Hemoptysis?

List of diseases that include hemoptysis as a symptom. Any major, well-known medical conditions associated with hemoptysis are included below, listed alphabetically with photos when available

Resources

Hemoptysis

61yo African American female w/hx of HTN presenting with 1mo of persistent cough productive of green-yellow sputum, noticed streaks of blood for the past 5 days.

Hemoptysis – Examination and Evaluation

Hemoptysis is defined as the expectoration of blood from the respiratory tract, a spectrum that varies from blood-streaking of sputum to coughing up large amounts of pure blood.

Management of Massive Hemoptysis

95% of the lesions will arrise from the bronchial circulation. The ones that don't are PE, Pulmonary Art Catheter mishaps, and AVMs of the Pulmonary arterial circulation.

Massive Hemoptysis

A simplified approach to the initial assessment and management of emergency department patients with massive hemoptysis.

Life in the Fastlane

Chronic inflammatory conditions (including bronchiectasis, tuberculosis, lung abscess) and lung malignancies are the most common causes.

Patient

Classifications of severity vary. Although volumes of 100 to 1000 mL of blood have been described as indicative of massive haemoptysis, no specific volume has been universally accepted. However, a large volume of expectorated blood alone should not define massive haemoptysis, but rather an amount of blood sufficient to cause a condition that threatens the patient's life is usually a more correct and functional definition of severe haemoptysis.