Clinical Aspects of Cardiac Diagnosis

Abstract

Few undertakings in medicine will reward the physician with greater satisfaction than the clinical examination of the cardiovascular system. A carefully elicited history combined with skilful observation of physical signs will often provide sufficient information to make a diagnosis, while the expeditious use of complementary invasive and non-invasive investigations provides for immediate confirmation or revision of this impression. Because effective medical or surgical treatment is available for most cardiac conditions, accurate diagnosis readily benefits the patient with appropriate therapy, and the physician can observe the results of treatment in a comparatively short period of time. In addition, there has been a recent trend to recommend surgery for many operable lesions without cardiac catheterisation. This again places great responsibility upon the surgeon to satisfy himself that the preoperative clinical diagnosis is both accurate and complete.