Angina Pectoris

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
SELECTION of diagnostic studies for evaluation of the patient with angina pectoris requires an appreciation of the natural history of the patient's underlying disease. Angina pectoris is not a disease; it is a symptom that Heberden described as a "sense of strangling and anxiety ... a painful and most disagreeable sensation in the breast. ..."1 Accordingly, it is misleading to speak of the "prognosis of angina pectoris" unless the underlying disease (Table 1) has been identified. The history, physical examination, electrocardiogram, and chest x-ray film will usually identify the patient in whom angina pectoris is due to valvular heart disease . . .