Symptoms of LAM

Many women with LAM suffer primarily from respiratory symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain, chronic cough, and pneumothoraces (lung collapses).  Some patients have benign kidney tumors called angiomyolipomas (AMLs) or an accumulation of milky fluid in the chest or abdomen called chyle.  The abnormal cells that grow in the lung can block blood vessels in the lung, causing them to become swollen with blood and even to rupture, causing hemoptysis, the coughing up of blood or blood-stained sputum.

Not every woman who has LAM experiences all of these symptoms.  About two-thirds will have at least one lung collapse (pneumothorax), and about one-third will have leakage of fluid into the chest cavity (chylothorax).  Angiomyolipomas (benign kidney tumors), which tend to be asymptomatic, are found in up to 30% of women with LAM.