Shortness of breath is a very common symptom and hence of interest for physicians of various specialities. Despite research including modern imaging methods the neurophysiology of dyspnea is still poorly understood. According to a frequently suggested ...

The evaluation of dyspnea in the Emergency Department (ED) is a critical step in the diagnostic procedure, especially when cardiopulmonary disease is suspected. Because dyspnea is a symptom in which many different afferent mechanisms are involved, a large ...

Every dyspnea is a medical emergency which affords urgent treatment. In cases of an acute exacerbation of a chronic obstructive lung disease an early trial with noninvasive ventilation is recommended to avoid further deterioration which might result in ...

Dyspnea is the most common presenting symptom of patients with acute heart failure (AHF). Although dyspnea is an important target for treatment in clinical practice and clinical trials, there remains a lack of consensus on how to assess it. We describe ...

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is often evoked in patients with new-onset or worsening dyspnea, especially when it is associated with pleuritic chest pain. However, the prevalence of PE in patients with a clinical suspicion ranges from 20 % to as low as 5 %. ...

Natriuretic peptides (NP) are simple and rapid cardiac biomarkers that quantify hemodynamic cardiac stress and heart failure. Heart failure is a common cause of dyspnea, therefore improvements in the diagnosis of heart failure have a major impact on the ...

Assessment of dyspnea can be a challenging task even for experienced physicians. Dyspnea can be caused by multiple reasons in up to one third of the cases. By history taking and physical examinations only, airway obstruction can be missed as well as over-...

The presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an important risk factor for cardiovascular comorbidity. Of note, cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction or heart failure are – aside pulmonary cancer – the main reasons for ...

Dyspnea during exertion is a frequent and unspecific symptom. Tests performed at rest may yield abnormalities in both cardiac and pulmonary function but cannot reliably predict the exercise response. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) using gas ...