Assessment of breathlessness: a cardiologist's perspective.

Abstract

"Breathlessness" or dyspnoea is a common, subjective symptom that can be multifactorial. It is a frequent complaint encountered by cardiologists, both in the outpatient and inpatient clinical setting. It requires a comprehensive clinical evaluation including accurate history taking and pursuing appropriate clinical investigations. It is imperative to distinguish cardiac causes of dyspnoea from other causes, including pulmonary, neurological and other systemic conditions. In this review we attempt to summarise the approach to the evaluation of dyspnoea.