title: Analysis of patients with hemoptysis in a tertiary referral hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study attempted to investigate the main causes of hemoptysis, the type of examinations used for diagnosis, the treatment modalities and outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study was conducted on the medical records of 221 patients admitted to the Chonnam National University Hospital, between January 2005 and February 2010, with hemoptysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bronchiectasis (32.6%), active pulmonary tuberculosis (18.5%), fungus ball (10.8%), and lung cancer (5.9%) accounted for most causes of hemoptysis. Computed tomography scan was the most sensitive diagnostic test when employed alone, with positive yield of 93.2%. There were 161 cases of conservative treatment (72.9%), 42 cases of bronchial artery embolization (BAE) (19.0%), and 18 cases of surgery (8.1%). Regarding the amount of hemoptysis, 70 cases, out of 221 cases, were mild (31.5%), 36 cases moderate (16.2%), and 115 cases massive hemoptysis (52.0%). Most of the patients were treated conservatively, but if there was more bleeding present, BAE or surgery was more commonly performed than the conservative treatment (p≤0.0001). In the multivariate model, severe hemoptysis and lung cancer were independently associated with short-term recurrence. BAE was independently associated with long-term recurrence, and lung cancer was associated with in-hospital mortality. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 11.3%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hemoptysis is a common symptom with a good prognosis in most cases. However, patients exhibiting massive bleeding or those with malignancy had a poorer prognosis. In-hospital mortality was strongly related to the cause, especially in lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Bo Ram
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jin Yeong
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Hee Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Ban
authors.forename: In Jae
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Kyu Sik
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yong Soo
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Yu Il
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young Chul
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung Chul
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lim