The Clinical Significance of Hemoptysis

HEMOPTYSIS is an important symptom and often indicates serious disease. Chaves1 reported that it occurred in 6.8 per cent of all patients seen in an outpatient chest clinic. Abbott2 found that pulmonary hemorrhage occurred in 38 per cent of 1316 patients with chest disease. Pulmonary tuberculosis is probably the commonest cause for bleeding, and it is estimated that approximately a third of the patients with tuberculosis bleed at some time. About half the patients with carcinoma of the lung have hemoptysis, which, however, is rarely the initial complaint. Over half the patients who have bronchiectasis bleed at some time. However, . . .