FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 328:946-950 April 1, 1993 Number 13 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text Purchase this article Letters Letters Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited PubMed Citation

An 87-year-old independent and active woman with no known heart or pulmonary disease went to see her physician because she had shortness of breath.

The two most common causes of shortness of breath in this age group are pulmonary disease and cardiac disease. In the pulmonary category, I would worry that she had pneumonitis or an interstitial process such as pulmonary fibrosis. In the cardiac category, I'd be concerned about left ventricular failure secondary either to coronary artery disease or to hypertensive heart disease. Dyspnea could also be a manifestation of valvular heart disease. Patients in this age group occasionally . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Commentary

Editor's Note

Source Information

From the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 1400 VFW Pky., West Roxbury, MA 02132, where reprint requests should be addressed to Dr. Thibault.

References

Related Letters:

Criticism of Clinical Problem-Solving
Reich J. S., Pauker S. G., Thibault G. E.
Extract | Full Text  
N Engl J Med 1993; 329:1743-1744, Dec 2, 1993. Correspondence

Clinical Problem-Solving: Too Old for What?
Osborne M. L., Wall M., Thibault G. E.
Extract | Full Text  
N Engl J Med 1993; 329:509-510, Aug 12, 1993. Correspondence

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Caplan, L. R. (2008). A 70-Year-Old Man With a Transient Ischemic Attack: Review of Internal Carotid Artery Stenosis. JAMA 300: 81-90 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• CAPLAN, L R (2001). Evidence based medicine: concerns of a clinical neurologist. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 71: 569-574 [Full Text]  
• UNSWORTH-WHITE, J (1999). Cardiac surgery for the elderly: a surgeon's perspective. Heart 82: 125-125 [Full Text]  
• Bouma, B J, van den Brink, R B A, van der Meulen, J H P, Verheul, H A, Cheriex, E C, Hamer, H P M, Dekker, E, Lie, K I, Tijssen, J G P (1999). To operate or not on elderly patients with aortic stenosis: the decision and its consequences. Heart 82: 143-148 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kassirer, J. P. (1995). Teaching Problem-Solving -- How Are We Doing?. NEJM 332: 1507-1509 [Full Text]  
• Feldman, R., Thibault, G. E., Reich, J. S. (1994). Cardiac Surgery at 87. NEJM 330: 1160-1160 [Full Text]  
• Reich, J. S., Pauker, S. G., Thibault, G. E. (1993). Criticism of Clinical Problem-Solving. NEJM 329: 1743-1744 [Full Text]  
• Osborne, M. L., Wall, M., Thibault, G. E. (1993). Clinical Problem-Solving: Too Old for What?. NEJM 329: 509-510 [Full Text]  
• Wong, J. B., Salem, D. N., Pauker, S. G. (1993). You're Never Too Old. NEJM 328: 971-975 [Full Text]