Worse symptomatic outcome after PCI in patients presenting with dyspnea
dyspnea, angina, Dyspnea, CAD, angina pectoris, COPD, obstructive pulmonary disease
COPD, PULMONARY DISEASE, OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE, CAD
Dyspnea and angina pectoris correlate in patients with stable CAD. It is, however, not clear what the presence of dyspnea in addition to angina pectoris means for the symptomatic response after PCI. Patients who presented with concomitant dyspnea had a slightly higher body mass index (29 vs 27 kg/mChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and CAD share smoking as a major risk factor and often occur in the same patients which may confound our findings as we did not specifically evaluate patients without known COPD for pulmonary disease. Jönsson et al. evaluated patients who were referred for further testing because of chest discomfort or dyspnea [Before PCI, patients with dyspnea experienced more physical limitation due to their CAD. Interestingly, the measure for quality of life did not differ between groups. There was no difference for angina stability or angina frequency. These findings suggest that there is no strong difference between patients who present with stable CAD and concomitant dyspnea or without dyspnea at baseline. However, it is striking that patients with initial dyspnea responded worse to PCI than patients without. Six months after PCI, patients with and without initial dyspnea have improved physical limitation, angina stability, angina frequency, and quality of life. However, patients with initial concomitant dyspnea have a higher angina frequency, more physical limitation, and lower quality of life.