What causes coughing up blood? Is it related to lung disease?

Many people cough up blood when they cough. There are usually several reasons for coughing up blood. The first is physiological factors. The patient usually has no symptoms, or he has caught a cold recently, and coughing up blood due to excessive and frequent coughing. If you cough up blood frequently, you should consider it as a disease, because problems with lung function can cause blood in the coughed up sputum, which requires timely examination.

What are the causes of coughing up blood in lung cancer patients?

Coughing up blood due to lung cancer is usually caused by the tumor, which blocks the gas passage and stimulates the bronchial wall, causing the bronchus to react and want to expel foreign objects, thus causing coughing. Sometimes the sputum coughed up contains blood, which is what we call coughing up blood. The blood coughed up by lung cancer patients usually comes from the bronchi or alveoli, and the coughed up blood does not contain food residues. If it contains food residues, it may be vomiting blood rather than coughing up blood.

Why do lung cancer patients cough up blood?

When there is a tumor in the lungs, it will cause local inflammation of the lung tissue, increase the permeability of the capillaries, and cause blood to flow into the respiratory tract; or the tumor will compress the microvessels and cause the blood vessels to rupture, which will also cause coughing up blood.

In addition to knowing why people with lung cancer cough up blood, you also need to know that coughing up blood is a common clinical symptom of lung cancer. Except for a few cases of lung cancer that cause severe coughing up blood, the amount of blood coughed up is generally small. It often occurs in the early and middle stages of the disease, with a small amount of blood, bright red in texture or mixed with foam. Pneumonia hemoptysis often recurs and can occur throughout the entire course of the disease, so it is of great clinical significance for the treatment of lung cancer. 31.6% to 58.5% of lung cancer patients have symptoms of coughing up blood, and about 40% of lung cancer patients seek medical treatment with coughing up blood as the first symptom.

In fact, coughing up blood is not a specific symptom of lung cancer. We need to have some understanding of why lung cancer patients cough up blood. We should also be clear that coughing up blood is one of the clinical manifestations of many diseases. In addition to lung cancer, other possible diseases include bronchitis, pneumonia, lung abscess, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, etc.

Now that you know why lung cancer causes coughing up blood, you should be alert if this symptom occurs and go to the hospital to check whether it is lung cancer or other diseases. Early detection and early treatment are best.

Clinical manifestations of hemoptysis due to lung cancer

Clinically, the disease is characterized by coughing up bright red blood or sputum and blood after coughing, with occasional foam. The disease has an acute onset and recurrent attacks. In severe cases, the onset is violent, with large amounts of blood even gushing out of the mouth. Severe cases may develop hemorrhagic shock, with symptoms such as pale complexion, profuse sweating, cold limbs, fainting, pale tongue and weak pulse, indicating that qi is being lost along with blood. If a blood clot blocks the airway and causes suffocation, it can often lead to the patient's death.

Patients with lung cancer who cough up blood have the following characteristics:

1. It is more common in men over 40 years old with a history of long-term heavy smoking.

2. In the early stage, it is mostly irritating cough.

3. Continuous or intermittent recurring blood in sputum, bright red in color, severe hemoptysis is rare.

4. X-ray findings: Massive or round shadows appear near the lungs or in the lung fields, mostly lobed or spiculated, and sometimes obstructive atelectasis or obstructive pneumonia occurs. Bronchial section can show bronchial compression.

4. Treatment of hemoptysis caused by lung cancer

What should lung cancer patients do when they cough up blood? It is best to seek medical attention immediately and provide the doctor with information about the coughing up blood (when the coughing up blood began, the color and amount of blood) for the doctor's reference in treatment. The doctor may decide whether to hospitalize the patient based on the amount of blood coughed up, and will prescribe some hemostatic drugs for the patient. If the patient bleeds more, you should be more careful because blood clots may block the respiratory tract, causing respiratory suffocation or respiratory failure. At this time, the doctor may do some examinations to find the bleeding point; bronchoscopy or laser treatment may also be used to help stop the bleeding. If some patients suffer from anemia due to excessive bleeding, doctors usually use blood transfusions to improve the symptoms of anemia.