Shortness of Breath Flashcards
What are the 4 major reasons for SOB?
- Insufficient O2 into lungs
- Insufficient O2 in blood
- Insufficient O2 getting around the body
- Increased respiratory drive
Why might there be not enough oxygen in lungs?
- Obstructed airways
- Decreased lung volume
- Decreased volume of functioning lung
- Inability to inflate lungs
What conditions give obstructed airways?
- Asthma
- COPD
- Obstruction tumour
- Airway oedema in anaphylaxis
What are the intrathoracic causes of not enough O2 into lungs?
- pneumothroax
2. pleural effusion
What are the extrathoracic causes of not enough O2 into lungs?
kyphoscolisosis
What would cause decreased volume of functioning lung?
- bullous/cystic disease
2. scarred or fibrosed lung in intersitital lung disease
When would your lungs have an inability to inflate lungs due to increased work to do?
- Obesity
2. ILD
When would your lungs have an inability to inflate lungs due weak resp muscles?
- GB
- Myasthenia gravis
When would your lungs have an inability to inflate lungs due to the, being already hyperinflated?
COPD
What would cause not enough O2 to get into blood?
- Damage alveolar membrane
- Fluid between alveolar wall and capillary
- Disrupted blood supply
What conditions would cause damage to alveolar membrane?
- emphysema
- fibrosis (ILD)
What conditions would cause fluid between the alveolar wall and capillary?
- oedema e.g. heart failure
- inflammatory e.g. pneumonia
What would cause disrupted blood supply?
PE
What would cause not enough O2 getting around the body?
- Reduced cardiac output
- Anaemia
- Shock
What would cause reduced cardiac output?
- heart failure
- aortic stenosis
- physical deconditioning
What would cause increased resp drive?
- hysterical hyperventilation
2. acidamia
What could be a cause of acidaemia?
diabetic ketoacidosis
What would you suspect if the SOB came on suddenly?
- PE
- Pneumothroax
- Foreign body
What SOB would present in months and years?
- lung cancer
2. pulmonary fibrosis
What conditions would have worse SOB when lying flat?
hear failure
What conditions would have worse SOB at certain times of year, place, early morning, exercise?
asthma
What condition of SOB is worse when stress?
psychogenic hyperventilation
What risk factors do you look for in SOB?
- smoking: 20 cig a day for a year = 1 pack year
- Pets
- Occupational history
- Medication
- Past MHx
Why do you check for occupational history?
pneumoconioses
Which drugs do you check for and why?
can cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis:
- nitrodurantonin
- amiodarone
- methotrexate
- bleomycin
What PMHx do you check and why?
SLE and RA can cause ILD and pleural effusions
What associated symptoms do you ask about with SOB?
- Cough
- Chest pain
- Muscular weakness or fatigue
- Tender limbs
- Weight loss
- Loss of blood
What questions do you ask about cough?
- Productive?
- Colour?
- Blood?
- When happen?
- What sound?
What would a persistent, productive cough over last few days suggest?
pneumonia
What would persistent, productive cough most days of the past 3 months + spanning years?
chronic bronchitis
What would dry cough mainly during SOB or at night suggest?
- Asthma
2. Left ventirclar failure
What would blood stained sputum suggest?
- PE
- lung cancer
- cabitating pneumonia
What does croup sound like (children)?
barking seal
What produces a bovine cough?
recurrent laryngeal nerve pals
What would plueritic chest pain suggest with SOB?
- Pneumonia
- PE
- Pneumothorax
What would non-plueritic chest pain indicate with SOB?
CV pathology