Breathlessness: emergency presentations

Breathlessness: emergency presentations

Wheezing?
Asthma
COPD
Heart failure
Anaphylaxis

Stridor?
(Upper airway obstruction)
Foreign body or tumour
Acute epiglottitis
Anaphylaxis
Trauma, eg laryngeal fracture

Crepitations?
Heart failure
Pneumonia
Bronchiectasis
Fibrosis

Chest clear?
Pulmonary embolism
Hyperventilation
Metabolic acidosis, eg diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)
Anaemia
Drugs, eg salicylates
Shock (may cause air hunger)
Pneumocystis pneumonia
Central causes

Others
Pneumothorax—pain, increased resonance
Pleural effusion ”stony dullness"