[Dyspnea: is medical history still useful for its evaluation?]

Dyspnea is a common symptom and a major cause of medical consultation. Fast and reliable diagnostic work-up warrants minimization of the risks, sometimes vital, incurred by the patient. Despite a growing number of biomarkers including troponins 1, D-dimers, BNP and more recently Apelin, a lung endocrine parenchymal marker, medical history remains the cornerstone of dyspnea clinical work-up. Since the early 90's, clinical investigators have tried to better understand dyspnea by its language. Verbal expressions used by dyspneic patients have been analyzed and progressively linked to given pathophysiological situations. Becoming more fluent with the language of dyspnea would allow physicians to break down any communication barriers and provide the best care possible to patients with dyspnea.