by Madison Rose
Life-threatening hemoptysis was defined as expectoration of at least 200 mL of blood per hour in a patient with normal or nearly normal lung function, production of at least 50 mL of blood per hour in a patient with a chronic respiratory failure, or more than two episodes of moderate hemoptysis (at least 30 mL) within a 24-h period despite the use of IV vasopressin. BAE was not performed in 10 patients because of failure to achieve stable cannulation of the vessel by the catheter tip (n = 6) or visualization of an anterior spinal artery (n = 4). The underlying etiologies of hemoptysis in these 10 patients were as follows: active tuberculosis (n = 1), tuberculosis sequelae (n = 2), idiopathic hemoptysis (n = 2), pulmonary aspergilloma (n = 2), bronchial carcinoma (n = 1), bronchiectasis (n = 1), and congenital heart disease (n = 1). Of these 10 patients, emergency surgery was performed in 7, and bleeding ceased after treatment with IV vasopressin in 3. The 46 patients who underwent a total of 50 BAEs form the basis of the study. Their mean age was 51 years (range, 19 to 89 years). There were 30 men and 16 women. The underlying etiologies of hemoptysis are listed in Table 1. Hemoptysis was classified as idiopathic when the combination of CT scan of the chest, lung perfusion scan, fiberoptic bronchoscopy, and microbiological analysis of airway secretions disclosed no abnormalities. buy glucophage