Coughing up blood

Image © Lisa F. Young iStockPhoto

Wed 23 September 2009

Also known as heamoptysis

Coughing up blood, or heamoptysis, is most often caused by a ruptured blood vessel anywhere within the mouth, throat, nose, the airways or lungs as a result of hard coughing.

However, it is also one of the symptoms of serious infections such as tuberculosis (more common than you would think in the UK), pneumonia and bronchitis. Other conditions such as lung cancer and pulmonary embolism (blood clot) can also cause this.

Coughing up blood may also occur as a result of the lungs becoming congested, which can happen in people with heart failure or heart valve disease such as mitral stenosis.

Either way, this is a serious symptom which should never be ignored. Medical investigations usually include a chest X – ray, and perhaps looking down the airways with a small flexible light to establish the exact cause.