Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] My 54 year old son who has been treated for pneumonia in the hospital 4 days and is now home for 4 days has just coughed up a hard black mass with a whole in the middle. After which he coughed fresh blood. This has now stopped Could this be dried pneumonia or blood clots. you recommendations please
[|AI|]  Hi, thank you for asking Chat Doctor. The black mass he coughed out was probably a blood clot as it was followed by fresh blood. It is true that pneumonia can cause this, but some other conditions need to be ruled out. He may need to do a sputum test to rule out tuberculosis, a chest X-ray and/or chest CT scan to rule out a tumor. Generally, coughing out blood is a sign that needs to be seriously investigated. I would suggest that he goes back to his treating doctor for proper assessment. I hope that answers the query wish him well