Bronchiectasis, bleeding

Question

Hello,
I suffer from CF and also have bonchiectasis. I am 22 years old. I recently had an infection. I also have Pseudomonas aerugionsa. From the 10th january to the 23rd february I took antibiotics. During this time I coughed up also bood sometimes. Therefore I took for 8 days Dicynon® (Etamsylate) intravenously, after that orally 2 weeks Peflavit C® (Hypericum perforatum L.). I am at home for 3 days now. I feel really good, I only hardly cough. There are no hints at an infection. Nevertheless I have blood in the sputum. I take now Dicynon®(Etamsylate) orally for 3 days according to the opinion of the doctor. He can not explain why I bleed sometimes for one months now, in spite of the fact that I have taken those drugs???

Answer

Hello,
the cause for coughing up blood (haemoptysis) lies in general in a lesion of the superficial blood vessels of the bronchial mucosa, in most cases caused by an inflammation. Therefore an antibiotic therapy, as has been performed in your case, is the measure of choice. Unfortunately, it is not always successful to prevent the occurrence of haemoptysis with the antibiotic therapy. There are some patients, who have from time to time blood in the sputum, without hints at an actual inflammation of the airways.
In the literature, I did not find a recommendation on the intake of Etamsylate (more widespread in gynaecology) and Peflavit C® (vitamin-complex) for prevention of haemoptysis. In case of acute coughing of blood, an inhalation of vessel-narrowing drugs can be considered to support the antibiotic therapy (e.g. Epinephrin). However, haemopthysis is only dangerous, in case larger amounts of blood are brought up, which might probably make a blood transfusion necessary. This complication is fortunately very rare. In such a case it has to be checked, if via a radiologic or a surgical measure the bleeding has to be stopped.
Yours sincerely,
Wolfgang Gleiber

15.04.2011

15.4.11 There is a lot of information on the topic "Haemoptysis" in the answer to the question "Coughing up blood" (link: ecorn-cf.eu/index.php?id=65&L=0&tx_expertadvice_pi1[showitem]=760&tx_expertadvice_pi1[search]=haemoptysis), which can be found under topics--lung.
D. d'Alquen