Could embolism cause nose bleeding?

Posted on Wed, 12 Mar 2014

Question: My wife passed away of a pulmonary embolism. The night before we had her at the emergency room with a nose bleed. Could the embolism case the nose bleed or the nose bleed cause the embolism. She was 60 years old and weighted around 244 lbs.

Answered by Dr. Albana Sejdini (1 hour later)

Brief Answer: Pulmonary embolism does not cause nose bleeding... Detailed Answer: Hi, Please accept my condolences for loss of your beloved wife! Usually, pulmonary embolism is associate with hemoptysis (coughing up blood) and not nasal bleeding. Spikes in blood pressure or damages to the local blood vessels can cause nasal bleeding. In case of your wife, if she had nasal bleeding and pulmonary embolism at the same time, then: - nasal bleeding - is due to spike in blood pressure or - when she has coughed up blood, a part of it has been "reported" as nasal bleeding. Hope it answered to your concern! Once again, please accept my heartfelt condolences on the loss of your loved wife. Dr.Albana

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar