(RNN) - A 36-year-old man who was admitted to intensive care with acute heart failure, coughed up a lot more than mucus.
During an extreme episode of coughing, the man expelled a blood clot in the shape of the right bronchial tree, the New England Journal of Medicine reported.
A 36-year-old man was admitted to the ICU with an acute exacerbation of chronic #heartfailure. After a ventricular assist device was placed & anticoagulation therapy initiated, hemoptysis developed, and he expectorated a cast of the right bronchial tree. https://t.co/QfqeqwWzXt pic.twitter.com/nXW201rjCT
— NEJM (@NEJM) December 3, 2018
The bronchial tree is part of the respiratory system. It manages air in the lungs.
The six-inch-wide clot was coughed up in one piece, according to The Atlantic.
Doctors inserted a heart pump and tubes into the man to manage his acute heart failure.
But he died a week later due to complications, the New England Journal of Medicine reported.
The man’s medical history included heart failure and he had a pacemaker.
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