Coughing up blood
February 1, 2010
Coughing up blood is medically termed as Hemoptysis. Patients of hemoptysis suffer from the discomfort of coughing up blood from the respiratory tract. However, it seems to be a very serious physical condition due to the frightening experience in its every occurrence, but there are exceptions also.Coughing up blood problem can be caused by several lung conditions. Coughing up and the blood can be of different color and type. For example, the blood may be of fresh red or pink in color and foamy type. In some instances, blood can be mucus mixed. Although in some instances a small quantity of sputum with tinge of blood may not be due to a serious health hazard, but coughing up blood should be treated always as serious concern and it is better to seek immediate medical help to treat the anomaly.
The prime cause of coughing up blood is chronic type of bronchitis. Apart from this reason there are some more reasons like cystic fibrosis, abusive use of drug, emphysema, abscess in lungs, lung cancer, mitral valve stenosis, parasitic infection, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, trauma to the chest, COPD [chronic pulmonary disease], tuberculosis etc.
Wegener’s granulomatosis is one of the possible reasons for coughing up blood problem.
Wegener’s granulomatosis is a rare disease which results in the unusual inflammation of the blood vessels which results in scanty blood flow to different organs. Usually, kidneys, lung, and upper respiratory tract are affected by this disease.
Coughing up blood [Hemoptysis] is also caused by sudden inhaling of a foreign body which may rupture a blood vessel. However, every occurrence of hemoptysis should be reported to doctor at the earliest.
When blood comes out of respiratory tract, it is called Hemoptysis. In case blood comes out of nose, rear portion of throat, or from gastrointestinal tract, the condition is called as pseudohemoptysis.
Medical investigation process of coughing up blood problem depends on the attending physician. Usually, a doctor suggests for a chest X- ray and runs a thorough clinical check of the airways with a small flexible light to recognize the exact reason behind the core problem.
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