Introduction
Dyspnea, CAD, dyspnea, angina pectoris
DISEASE, CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE, CAD, LEFT MAIN CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is an often debilitating disease and the symptomatic burden, including angina pectoris and dyspnea, can be accompanied by starkly impaired quality of life [The EXCEL trial found that dyspnea was present in 73% of patients with left main coronary artery disease [Dyspnea often is multi-factorial in nature and causes are manifold, including numerous organ systems [Large gaps of knowledge remain regarding the extent and relevance of dyspnea as a symptom of stable CAD on total symptom burden and quality of life and its susceptibility for PCI as a common treatment strategy. We therefore analyzed the burden of dyspnea in a well-characterized patient cohort presenting with stable CAD who received PCI with special regard to changes in dyspnea 6 months after PCI. We first aimed at identifying the relevance of concomitant dyspnea on the symptomatic prognosis after PCI. Patients were classified as “concomitant dyspnea” when dyspnea did occur together with angina pectoris. We then tried to evaluate the effect of PCI on total dyspnea for which we used the NYHA classification. A NYHA class of ≥ 2 was considered symptomatic dyspnea.