What Does Coughing Up Blood with Asthma Mean?
Coughing up blood with asthma underlines that some medical problem is happening in the lungs / respiratory system. Coughing up blood is not due to the presence of an asthma condition because asthma alone does not cause one to have mucus or bloody sputum. The cough with blood originates from the upper respiratory tract, such as from sinuses or nasopharynx, though it is not always easy to detect the source of blood.
Nevertheless, the condition should be taken seriously and diagnosed to determine what the person is suffering from. In medical knowledge, there are several causes for which coughing up blood can happen such as gingivitis, bleeding gums, blood clot in the lung, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, throat irritation due to violent coughing, nosebleed, laryngitis, lung cancer, Goodpasture’s syndrome, pneumonia, necrotic pneumonia, lung injury, lung trauma, parasitic lung infection, anaerobic pneumonia, Serratia marcescens lung infection, pulmonary aspiration, pulmonary edema, tuberculosis, Wegener’s granulomatosis and systemic lupus erythematosus.
To determine the correct reason, diagnostic techniques like lung bioscopy, bronchoscopy, laryngoscopy, spirometry, mediastinoscopy, tonsillectomy and upper airway biopsy are available.
Hemoptysis – What Is It?
The medical term for coughing up blood is ‘hemoptysis’. The condition is treatable but for treatment, a thorough examination and evaluation of the correct cause is necessary. Sometimes hemoptysis is a natural result in cases of patients with chronic bronchitis. Hemoptysis in chronic bronchitis is mild and self – limited. But if the condition is persisting and recurring after regular intervals, a thorough examination and treatment plan is needed.
Hemoptysis Evaluation
The preliminary examination of coughing up blood with asthma involves careful analysis of the patient’s medical history, complete physical examination and lateral and posteroanterior chest x-rays. In the medical history, doctors look for information pertaining to acute or chronic pulmonary symptoms, shortness of breath, wheezing, sputum, cough and any other history of lung diseases. A doctor compartmentalizes the symptoms according to the differential diagnosis system.
Hemoptysis Differential Diagnosis
The differential diagnosis of hemoptysis is divided into three categories.
Pulmonary Diagnosis – In this, the doctor looks for airway diseases like bronchitis, cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis; neoplasms like aspergillum, lung abscess, pneumonia, tuberculosis, inflammatory disorders, bronchial carcinoid and bronchogenic carcinoma; pulmonary vascular diseases like pulmonary thromboembolism, pulmonary vasculitis and arteriovenous malformation.
Cardiovascular Diagnosis – In this, the doctor gives tests to diagnose either congestive heart failure or mitral stenosis.
Miscellaneous Diagnosis – This includes the possibility of blood in cough caused due to the use of anticoagulants and fibrinolytics.
If you are suffering from a similar condition and you are unaware of its causative factor, get yourself checked thoroughly. Any delay caused in diagnosis can only increase the condition and may make the condition irreversible. Remember that hemoptysis is treatable; get yourself checked now before the problem complicates and blows out of proportion.
