Haemoptysis And Pulmonary Tuberculosis - An Analysis

Haemoptysis, a cardinal respiratory symptom, was investigated for its association with pulmonary tuberculosis in one thousand patients, admitted in a major tuberculosis hospital. Though the occurrence of haemoptysis had no relevance to the radiological extent of pulmonary tuberculosis, ‘major’ haemoptsis (>200 ml. of blood in 24 hours) was found to occur in 50% of patients with multiple pulmonary cavities. Significantly, haemoptysis was a complaint in 21.2% of patients, who had already been treated adequately for pulmonary tuberculosis. Haemoptysis is not a sign of reactivation of healed residual pulmonary tuberculosis lesions.