RT Book, Section
A1 Grippi, Michael A.
A1 Senior, Robert M.
A1 Callen, Jeffrey P.
A2 Grippi, Michael A.
A2 Elias, Jack A.
A2 Fishman, Jay A.
A2 Kotloff, Robert M.
A2 Pack, Allan I.
A2 Senior, Robert M.
A2 Siegel, Mark D.
SR Print(0)
ID 1122356918
T1 Approach to the Patient with Respiratory Symptoms
T2 Fishman's Pulmonary Diseases and Disorders, 5e
YR 2015
FD 2015
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-179672-9
LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1122356918
RD 2023/01/28
AB The  most  common  respiratory  complaints  prompting  medical  evaluation  are  shortness  of  breath  and  cough.  Less  frequent  are  hemoptysis  and  thoracic  pain.  As  in  any  medical  assessment,  a  detailed  history  and  thorough  physical  examination  are  of  paramount  importance.  Use  of  plain  chest  radiography  for  routine  screening,  once  popular  in  the  hope  of  uncovering  silent  disease  amenable  to  therapy,  is  not  routinely  employed,  as  it  has  not  been  proven  to  decrease  mortality  or  to  be  cost  effective.  Chest  radiography  is  now  usually  reserved  for  patients  who  have  clinical  manifestations  of  thoracic  disease;  serial  chest  radiographs  often  provide  invaluable  clues  regarding  the  underlying  problem.  More  sophisticated  imaging  techniques,  including  computed  tomography  (CT),1,2  along  with  tests  of  lung  function,  help  complete  the  clinical  picture.