Dyspnea in emergency settings: Up-to-date diagnosing and management in the emergency department

Abstract

Introduction: Dyspnea is a symptom of breathing discomfort sensations generally caused by the disorders of the cardiorespiratory system. Dyspnea is a sign of an emergency where the right treatment and decisions greatly affect the prognosis and mortality. This writing aims to give the latest description of dyspnea, mechanisms, and examination modalities to determine the diagnosis, and management to reduce mortality and worsening of patients in the emergency department. Methods: We searched for articles related to the topics discussed from PubMed's database from 2013 to 2023 using keywords: Dyspnea and emergency department. We use Mendeley Reference Manager to organize the articles, citations, and references. In total, 57 articles are used as references in this article. Results: Dyspnea is a subjective symptom of breathing difficulty reported by the patient. The intensity of dyspnea might vary depending on the underlying condition and results from interactions between many physiological, social, and environmental elements. Cardiovascular or respiratory diseases are the main causes of discomfort. Anamnesis, physical examination, complete blood count, biomarkers, and chest X-rays can help determine the underlying disease. If the examination results are not supportive, computed tomography scan, lung ultrasonography, and echocardiography can help to make the diagnosis. Not all hospital emergency departments have specialists who can immediately carry out these examinations so understanding and making the right decision by the attending physician is needed to provide the best for the patient.

Keywords

• cardiorespiratory disease
• dyspnea
• emergency settings
• management