Pulmonary haemorrhage: causes and diagnosis

Pulmonary hemorrhage is an indispensable reason to call a doctor. In some patients, it begins with hemoptysis, so this sign should alert you already. The most frequent causes of pulmonary hemorrhage are inflammatory lung diseases, tumors, lesions. A significant part is occupied by the pathology of the vessels of the lungs (aneurysms), in which the vessels burst from high pressure. A type of such pathology is pulmonary embolism - it can also cause bleeding. To bleeding from the lungs can lead and the presence of a foreign body in the lungs or bronchi.

The most dangerous in terms of bleeding pneumothorax, abscess, gangrene and empyema of the lung - with these diseases, significant blood loss is achieved if first aid for pulmonary hemorrhage is not provided.

The degree of severity is determined by the number of blood lost per day. The first degree is diagnosed if there are lost up to three hundred milliliters of blood, the second - from three hundred to seven hundred, and the third - more than seven hundred.

Subacute bleeding is often chronic, but not leading to significant blood loss. With it, small amounts of blood are lost - up to one hundred milliliters. Such a situation does not threaten the life of a sick person. But if the blood loss is significant, then there are several factors that threaten life. Firstly, this is hemorrhage itself and the consequences of hemorrhagic shock, and secondly, the danger is that blood can block bronchi and cause choking.

Pulmonary bleeding has its own specific pattern, somewhat different from the general and abdominal bleeding. With it, all the signs of general blood loss (pallor of the integument, blueing of the nasolabial triangle, tachycardia, cold perspiration), as well as pulmonary insufficiency caused by the filling of the bronchi with poured blood, are observed.

Often pulmonary hemorrhage is provoked by severe physical exertion of the patient or by a dry, strained cough. Patients immediately feel dizzy, weak, they are visited by a sense of anxiety. In the lung that bleeds, there is a burning sensation.

If pulmonary hemorrhage of the first degree, then the above signs are weak. At the second stage, the patient pales skin, weakness comes, the person often and superficially breathes. The pulse is frequent, but the blood pressure goes down. The third degree of bleeding is characterized by a further deterioration in the parameters of cardiac activity and respiration.

When listening to a patient in the lungs, one can hear wet rales. By the end of the first day, violations in the lower lobes of the lungs can be added, indicating the onset of pneumonia.

Pulmonary bleeding should be diagnosed as early as possible - the success of rehabilitation measures depends on this.

If pulmonary haemorrhage has found a sick home, then first of all relatives should release a person from clothing, ensure the supply of fresh air. The patient should be given a semi-sitting position, calm, ask to restrain coughing and deeply inhale the air. On the chest to stop bleeding you need to put ice. Calling for ambulance is mandatory, as pulmonary hemorrhage requires immediate identification of the cause and its elimination. Already in a medical institution, patients are X-rayed or imaged to determine the place of bleeding, a possible cause. Sometimes additional tests are required. In a medical institution, patients are prescribed rest, drugs that restore blood loss and increase blood counts. If there is a threat to life, the patients immediately operate, but in this case there is a high probability of death.