HHT Symptoms Vary with Location
Signs and symptoms may include nosebleeds, acute and chronic digestive tract bleeding, coughing up blood, and anemia. If the bleeding vascular lesions are located in the brain, the person may present with headaches and signs and symptoms of a stroke.
The location of the telangiectases or AVM impacts what problems a person with HHT might face. A person with abnormal GI tract blood vessels should watch for black stools and anemia that can cause fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain or light-headedness. Those with AVMs in the lung face the possibility of a life threatening rupture, stroke or brain abscess-especially during pregnancy. HHT patients with brain AVMs do not generally have warning symptoms prior to a life-threatening brain hemorrhage. Heart failure is another risk HHT patients face due to high flow liver AVMs.
Regardless of location or size, abnormal blood vessels have a greater tendency to rupture and bleed compared to normal blood vessels and should be closely monitored.
Those with HHT may have blood vessel abnormalities in the:
- Nose
- Skin of the face, hands and mouth
- Lungs
- Brain
- Lining of the stomach and intestines (GI tract)
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