Lessons from patients with hemoptysis attending a chest clinic in India.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the various etiologies of hemoptysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four hundred and seventy-six consecutive patients of hemoptysis who were admitted to the Department of Pulmonary Medicine between January 1996 and December 2002 were included in this study. Hemoptysis was categorized as mild (400 ml/day). We also categorized the patients according to the primary etiology of the hemoptysis. RESULTS: Of the 476 patients with hemoptysis included in this study, 352 were males and 124 were females. Pulmonary tuberculosis was the leading cause of hemoptysis. There were 377 (79.2%) patients in the pulmonary tuberculosis group, 25 (5.7%) in the neoplasm group, 19 (4.0%) in the chroni..