From hemoptyses as main symptom for the admission of patients during 1975 and 1976 in the pulmonary disease department of a parisian hospital, a retrospective study of the causes of hemoptyses is made by the authors. In 18% of the cases, hemoptysis was the unique revealing symptom of the disease. Tuberculosis and cancer are the main causes, but, now, their rate is inverted : 30% for cancer, 21% for tuberculosis, but in addition there are 9% in relation with sequelae of tuberculosis. Among the other causes, bronchiectases keep an important place, just as cardiovasculary diseases. But there is a portion of patients for whom the cause of the hemoptysis cannot be found. As bronchologic and vasculary explorations are developed, this portion of patients will diminish but will not disappear, because mechanisms of hemoptysis will be better explained but not the real cause.
