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Palliative cancer care - dyspnoea - Management
How should I investigate dyspnoea in palliative care?
- Investigations should be guided by the:
- Clinical assessment.
- Stage of disease and person's prognosis.
- Risk-to-benefit ratio of the investigation.
- Wishes of the person and their family.
- The most useful investigations to consider in all people with non-acute dyspnoea in a palliative care situation in primary care include:
- Chest radiography (to assess lung disease and heart failure).
- Spirometry (to assess possible undiagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, however, spirometry can be difficult for people with cancer because of pain).
- Full blood count (to exclude anaemia).
- Pulse oximetry, if available (to assess hypoxia).
- Electrocardiography (to exclude arrhythmia).
In depth
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