Pulmonary

The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care publishes articles broadly related to pulmonary medicine including thoracic surgery, transplantation, airways disease, pediatric pulmonology, anesthesiolgy, pharmacology, nursing  and more. Manuscripts may be either basic or clinical original investigations or review articles. Potential authors of review articles are encouraged to contact the editors before submission, however, unsolicited review articles will be considered.

Rick Robbins, M.D. Rick Robbins, M.D.

October 2012 Pulmonary Case of the Month: Hemoptysis from an Uncommon Cause

Lewis J. Wesselius, MD

 

Department of Pulmonary Medicine

Mayo Clinic Arizona

Scottsdale, AZ

 

History of Present Illness

A 39 year old woman is seen with a history of cough intermittently productive of small amounts of blood or blood-tinged sputum for 4 months. She reports no other respiratory symptoms and has otherwise felt well.

PMH, FH and SH

There was no significant PMH and no prior history of lung disease. Her father has a history of Parkinson’s disease and osteosarcoma. She is a nonsmoker, does not drink alcohol, and has never abused drugs. She has 2 children and is engaged to be remarried.

Physical Examination

Her physical examination is normal.

Chest X-ray

Her chest x-ray is below (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Panel A: Frontal chest radiography. Panel B: Lateral chest radiography.

Laboratory Evaluation

Hemoglobin was 13.2 g/dL and WBC was 8400 cells/μL with a normal differential. Urinanalysis was unremarkable.

Which of the following statements regarding hemoptysis is or are true?

  1. A normal chest x-ray makes a benign cause of the hemoptysis more likely
  2. Most patients with lung cancer are asymptomatic
  3. Hemoptysis in children is usually associated with an infection or a foreign body
  4. 1 + 3
  5. All of the above

Reference as: Wesselius LJ. October 2012 pulmonary case of the month: hempotypsis from an uncommon cause. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care 2012;5:169-75.  PDF

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