Pulmonary Embolism Symptoms
Reviewed: Dr. Gromatzky
4. Cough
Distress to the lungs from a pulmonary embolism can cause coughing, a symptom that rarely, if ever, occurs during a heart attack. Often, a cough caused by a PE will be dry. However, the coughing may also produce some mucus, which is called sputum when it results from coughing.
If you have a cough caused by a pulmonary embolism, you may notice that the sputum is tinged pink or red with blood. Your coughing may also produce blood with no sputum. This is known as hemoptysis, and it is a much greater cause for concern than blood-tinged sputum. You may also observe that coughing makes the pain in your chest worse.
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