ملخص

The cardinal symptoms of heart disease are:

Chest pain
Breathlessness
Palpitation
Syncope
Peripheral Oedema

Breathlessness (Dyspnoea)

abnormally uncomfortable awareness of breathing It is one of principal symptoms of cardiac and pulmonary disease .
Acute pulmonary oedema is a severe breathlessness due to alveolar fluid transudation
Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea occurs during sleep
Orthopnoea is dyspnoea on lying flat due to increased pulmonary venous congestion
Cardiac dyspnoea is due left side heart

Palpitation

asunpleasantawareness of the forceful or rapid beating of the heart
Most causes due to awareness of heart beating in normal sinus rhythm in a healthy person e.g. after exercise, excessive tea &coffee & smoking common benign cause is premature ectopic beats and pathologically may occur as in cardiac arrhythmia .
Palpitation can occur in a patient with normal heart rate ,increased heart rate & slow heart rate as in complete heart block


Syncope is a sudden brief loss of consciousness.
Presyncope is lightheadedness & near collapse
usually due to serious cardiac arrhythmia such as ventricular tachycardia & complete heart blockSevere …
aortic stenosis , hypertrophic cardiomyopathy & severe coronary artery disease can cause lightheadedness or syncope on exertion .

Peripheral Oedema

accumulation of fluid in the intersticial tissues , It is symptom & sign of right side or congestive heart failure mainly due to increased systemic venous pressure. cardiac oedema is generally symmetrical .

Other symptoms:

Reynaud'sphenomenon it is symptom of vasospasm of the digital vessels of the hand presented with pallor followed by cyanosis & redness .
Intermittent claudication it is a pain in thelower limbs occurs on walking & disappearonstopping ,it is symptom of peripheral arterial disease .
Cyanosis
1 central cyanosis characterized by decreased arterial oxygen saturation due to cardiac & pulmonary diseases. &2 peripheral cyanosis ,most commonly secondary to cutaneous vasoconstriction

Non-cardiac symptoms due to the cardiovascular diseases

Tiredness & fatigue may occur in acute myocardial infarction & heart failure
Nausea ,vomiting ,sweating & epigastricpain can occur in myocardial infarction
Nocturiamay be early symptoms of heart failure
Anorexia ,right upper abdominal discomfort, weight loss & cachexiaare symptom of advanced heart failure
Cough and haemoptysis