[Dyspnea of cardial origin]

The cardiac cause of dyspnea is left ventricular failure, usually secondary to coronary or hypertensive heart disease and occasionally due to valvular lesions or cardiomyopathy. The grading of this symptom is discussed, with the various tests, their feasibility and normal values. Invasive and noninvasive methods for further evaluation of these patients are described. Finally, the high correlation between dyspnea and measured physical work capacity, and the poor correlation between this symptom and ejection fraction or prognosis, are documented.