Cm. Seamens et K. Wrenn, BREATHLESSNESS - STRATEGIES AIMED AT IDENTIFYING AND TREATING THE CAUSE OF DYSPNEA, Postgraduate medicine, 98(4), 1995, pp. 215
The cause of dyspnea should always be assumed to be physical in nature
, although a psychological component may sometimes exist. The workup s
hould include thorough history taking, physical examination, chest rad
iography, electrocardiography, and determination of arterial blood gas
levels or pulse oximetry readings. Although pulse oximetry provides a
rough approximation of tissue perfusion, it is less useful for the di
agnosis of hypoxia or abnormalities of ventilation. It may be used to
assess oxygenation when the cause of dyspnea is known, It is also usef
ul to monitor the clinical course during treatment, which should be di
rected to the underlying process.