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Breathlessness - Management
Basis for recommendation
Investigations to confirm the cause
- Experts recommend arranging investigations to confirm the cause for acute breathlessness, because individual symptoms and signs associated with breathlessness are insufficiently specific to confirm the cause [Hopkin, 2010].
Lung/lobar collapse
- CKS recommends referral for people with lung/lobar collapse, for specialist investigations to determine the cause.
Pleural effusion
- CKS recommends admission or referral for people with a pleural effusion and breathlessness, for specialist treatment to drain the effusion and investigate the underlying cause.
Psychogenic breathlessness
- Recommendations are based on expert opinion reported in the Oxford handbook of general practice [Simon et al, 2010].
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