Misdiagnosis of Breathing difficulties

Misdiagnosis and Breathing difficulties

Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed, leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed. People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack, whereas there are various less dangerous possibilities. After all, there are numerous causes of chest pain. Some of the common conditions where a person may become concerned about a possible heart attack include a panic attack (which often has both chest pain and difficulty breathing), and heartburn/reflux type conditions. Nevertheless, chest pain itself can be a potentially life-threatening symptoms, and needs immediate professional attention.

Chronic lung diseases hard to diagnose: Some of the chronic lung diseases are difficult to diagnose. Even the well-knowns conditions such as asthma or lung cancer often fail to be diagnosed early. Some of the chronic lung diseases with diagnostic difficulties include asthma (perhaps surprisingly), COPD, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, mesothelioma, smoker's cough, AIDS-related respiratory conditions (see AIDS), chronic pneumonia, and other respiratory diseases. Rare possibilities include diseases like psittacosis (bird-related lung infection). See other types of chronic lung diseases.

Wegener's granulomatosis can be missed out: Wegener's granulomatosis is a condition of unknown etiology which usually affects the upper respiratory tract, lungs and the kidneys. This condition can turn to be pretty fatal initial diagnosis is not made. It is difficult to diagnose and most of the times the diagnosis is missed as the patients presents with generalised symptoms such as fever with respiratory illness. The condition can most often be misdiagnosed as a case of pneumonia, lung cancer, sarcoidosis or as a fungal infection of the lung. An early chest ray followed by CT scan helps in coming to a quick diagnosis.

Poor prognosis for small cell cancer of lung: Small cell cancer of the lung is the leading cause of death. It is an undifferentiated tumour, which usually involves the right upper lobe of the lung parenchyma. It can easily spread through blood to distant organs. At the time of diagnosis the tumour is well spread to other tissues, as the tumour is highly invasive. The tumour is associated with the production of hormones adrenocorticotropins or ACTH. Smoking is the risk factor for the formation of the tumour. The tumour is sensitive to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Surgery is usually not a treatment option even when the tumour is small. With treatment the survival can be upto one year.

Aortic stenosis in the elderly: Aortic stenosis is a condition characterised by the calcification of a normal valve and is more common in the elderly population. This is the most common cause.the patient usually presents with angina, syncope and dyspnea from congestive heart failure. The condition can be misdiagnosed as a case of aortic valve sclerossis, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, mitral regurgitation and pulmonary stenosis. Chest ray, ECG and echocadiography help in diagnosis. Patients must receve infective endocarditis. surgery is advised when there is gross reduction of the valve orifice.

Mitral regurgitation due to rheumatic fever: Mitral regurgitation occurs most commonly in men due to rheumatic fever and dilattaion of the left ventricle. It is characterised by left ventricular failure features such as dyspnea, orthopnea and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. With severe and chronic mitarl regurgitation right- sided failure occurs and pulamonary hypertension maybe a late finding. It must be differentiated from ventricular septal defect, hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and aortic stenosis. Medical treatment is aimed at relieving symptoms by increasing the cardiac output. For significantly limiting symptoms surgery must be considered.

Dyspnea commonest symptom in Aortic regurgitation: The most common cause of aortic regurgitation is rheumatic fever and even the mitral valve may be affected. It may occur after infective endocarditis. Aortic regurgitation results in volume overload of the left ventricle and manifests as dyspnea which is the most commonest symptom. It maybe misdiagnosed as pulmonary regurgitation, mitral stenosis, aortic stenosis and patent ductus arteriosus. Infective endocarditis prophylaxis must be considered. Salt reduction, diuretics, digitalis help in relievinhg the condition.

More about Misdiagnosis

• Causes of Breathing difficulties
• Misdiagnosis Overview
• How Common is Misdiagnosis?
• Over-Diagnosed Diseases
• Under-Diagnosed Diseases
• Types of Misdiagnosis
• Wrong Type Misdiagnosis
• Why Does Misdiagnosis Occur?
• Difficult Diseases to Diagnose
• More premium medical articles ...

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