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Previous Volume 333:1547-1553 December 7, 1995 Number 23 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.

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Patients with cardiopulmonary disease often have respiratory distress, which physicians refer to as dyspnea. Dyspnea is responsible for substantial disability and for millions of patient visits each year. Although dyspnea has been defined in several ways,^1,2,3,4 we define it as "an uncomfortable sensation of breathing." This review will focus on the mechanisms of dyspnea, because a greater understanding of those mechanisms may lead to better therapy for this often troubling symptom.

Problems in the Study of Dyspnea

Dyspnea differs from other sensations in that the neural pathways underlying it are not well understood. For example, free nerve endings transmit pain signals to the central nervous system, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Mechanisms of Dyspnea

Sense of Respiratory Effort

Chemoreceptors

            Hypercapnia

            Hypoxia

Mechanoreceptors

            Upper-Airway Receptors

            Lung Receptors

            Chest-Wall Receptors

Afferent Mismatch

Dyspnea in Some Common Disorders

Approach to Patients with Dyspnea

Conclusions

Source Information

From the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, and Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, N.H. (H.L.M.); and the Divisions of Emergency Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (R.M.S.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Schwartzstein at the Divisions of Emergency Medicine and Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Beth Israel Hospital, 330 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215.

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