This document provides guidance on taking a history for patients presenting with cardiovascular symptoms. It outlines the key components of a cardiovascular history, including presenting complaints, history of present illness, past medical history, drug history, family history, and social history. For specific symptoms like chest pain, it provides detailed questions to differentiate conditions like angina, myocardial infarction, pericarditis, and others. Assessment of dyspnea, edema, palpitations, syncope, claudication, and rest pain are also covered.

1. HISTORY TAKING IN
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
DR UMMAR KHURSHID

2. INTRODUCTION
•Introduce yourself – name / purpose
•Confirm patient details – name / DOB
•Explain the need to take a history
• Gain consent
• Ensure the patient is comfortable

3. CONTENTS
• Presenting complaint in patient’s own verbatism
• History of presenting complaint
•Past medical history
•Drug history
• Family history
•Social history
•Systemic enquiry
•Provisional Diagnosis based on history

4. CHEST PAIN
• Nature(crushing, burning, aching, stabbingetc.).
• Exact location.
• Any radiation.
• Severity (scored out of 10).
• Mode and rateof onset. What was the patientdoingat the time?
• Changein the pain over time (and current score out of 10).
• Duration(if now resolved).
• Exacerbatingfactors(particularly,isit affected by respiration or
movement?).
• Relievingfactors(includingthe use of GTN).
• Associatedsymptoms(nausea, vomiting,sweating,belching etc

5. ANGINA
• This is usually due to coronary artery disease but can also be
caused by other cardiac diseases such as aortic stenosis or
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
• Angina comes from the Latin for choking and this is often what the
patient describes.
• As the brain cannot interpret pain from the heart per se, it is felt
over the central part of the anterior chest and can radiate up to
the jaw, shoulder, or down the arms or even to the umbilicus.
• This patternis due to the commonembryological origins of the
heart and these parts of the body.

6. CONTD…
• In true angina, youcan expect the followingfeatures:
• Retrosternal.
• Crushing, heavinessor likea tight band.
• Worsewith physical oremotional exertion,coldweather and aftereating.
• Relievedby rest and nitrate spray(withina coupleof minutes).
• Not affectedby respiration ormovement.
• Sometimes associated withbreathlessness.
• In addition,patientsclassicallyclench their right fist and hold it to their
chest when describing thepain.
• In patientswith known angina,a change in the natureof the symptomis
important.Ask them how much exercisethey can do before feeling the
discomfortand whether this has changed.

7. MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION
• Patients willknow this as a heart attack.
• The pain is similarto that of angina but much moresevere, persistent
(despite GTN spray)and associatedwith nausea, sweating, and
vomiting.
• Patients mayalsodescribe a feeling of impending doom or death
angoranimi.

8. PERICARDITIS
• The commonestcauses areviral or bacterial infection, Ml, or
uraemia.
• Constantretrosternalsoreness.
• Worse on inspiration(pleuritic).
• Relievedslightlybysitting forwards.
• Not relatedto movement or exertion.

9. OESOPHAGEAL SPASM
• Often mistakenfor MI or angina.
• A severe, retrosternalburning pain.
• Onset often after eatingor drinking.
• Maybe associatedwithdysphagia.
• Mayhavea historyof dyspepsia.
• Maybe relieved byGTN as this is a smooth muscle relaxant(hence the
confusionwith angina)but GTN willtakeup to 20 minutes to relievethis pain
whereas angina is relievedwithina few minutes.
• Gastro-oesophagealrefluxdisease (heartburn)
• Retrosternal, burningpain.
• Relievedby antacids,onset after eating.

10. DISSECTING AORTIC
ANEURYSM
• Mustbe differentiatedfrom an MI as thrombolysisheremayprove
fatal.
• Severe tearing pain.
• Felt posteriorlyclassicallybetween the shoulderblades.
• Persistent,mostsevereatonset.
• Patientis usuallyhypertensiveand marfanoid

11. PLUERITIC PAIN
• Maybe caused by a wide range of respiratory conditions, particularly
pulmonary embolus and pneumothorax.
• Sharp pain, worseon inspirationand coughing.
• Not central, maybe localizedto one side of the chest.
• No radiation.
• No relief with GTN.
• Associatedwith breathlessness,cyanosis etc.

12. MUSCULOSKELTAL PAIN
• Maybe caused by injury, fracture,chondritis, etc.
• Will be localized toa particular spot on the chest and worsenedby
movement and respiration.
• Maybe tender topalpation.
• Tietze'ssyndromeвiscostochondritis (inflammationof the costal
cartilages) atribs 2, 3, and 4. Will be associatedwith tender swelling
over the costo-sternaljoints.

13. DYSPNOEA
• Dyspnoea is an abnormal awareness of one’s breathing
• Quantify the symptom so as to gauge its severity
• The New York Heart Association(NYHA) has devised a classification
of breathlessness .
• In practice, this is only used in clinical trials and it makes more
sense to measure the functional result of breathlessness

14. • ASK ABOUT
• How far can the patientwalk on the flat beforethey haveto stop
(march tolerance)?
• What about stairs andhills, can they makeit up a flight?
• Are they surethat they stopdue to breathlessnessor is it some
other reason (arthritic knees for example)?
• Has the patienthad to curtail their normal activities in anyway?

15. NYHA CLASSICAFICATION
• I - nil at rest, someon vigorous exercise.
• II - nil atrest, breathless on moderate exertion.
• III- mild breathlessness atrest, worseonmild exertion.
• IV- significantbreathlessness atrestand worseon even slight
exertion(the patientis often bed-bound).

16. ORTHOPNEA
• This is breathlessness when lying flat.
• Ask how manypillows does the patient sleep with and has this
changed
• Some patients maydescribe having tosleep sitting uprightin a
chair.
• If the patient sleeps with a number of pillows, ask why.
• Are they breathless when they lie down or is it for some other
reason?

17. PAROXYSMAL NOCTURNAL
DYSPNEA
• As the name suggests, this is episodes of breathlessness occurring at
night
• Sufferers will experience waking in the night spluttering and
coughing they find they haveto sit up or standand manygo to the
window for fresh air in an attemptto regaintheir normal breathing.
• Do they wake up in the night coughing and trying to catch their
breath?
• Ask as much detail as you can including how often and how
badly the symptomis disturbing the patient's sleep cycle.

18. EDEMA
• In ambulantpatients, fluid will collect at the ankles and cause
swelling. Ask:
• How long has this been going on for?
• Is it worseat anyparticular time of day? (Typically cardiac
oedema is worsetowardthe evening and resolved somewhat
overnight as the oedema redistributes itself.)
• Exactlyhow extensiveis the swelling? Is it confined to the feet and
ankles or does it extendto the shin, knee, thigh, or even the
buttocks, genitalia, andanterior abdominal wall?
• Is there anyevidence of abdominal swelling and ascites?

19. PALPITATIONS
• Palpitations is an awareness of one's own heart beat.
• Patients maybe unfamiliarwith the term altogether and, instead,
describe the heart jumping or missing a beat.
• Attemptto determine:
• When did the sensationstartand stop?
• How long did it last?
• Did it come on suddenly or gradually?
• Did the patientblackout? If so, for how long?

20. • Was the heart beat felt as fast, slow, or some other pattern?
• Was it regular or irregular?
– It is useful at this stagetoask the patientto tap out what they
felt on their knee or a nearby table.
• What was the patient doing when the palpitations started?
• Is there anyrelationshipto eating or drinking (particularly
tea, coffee, wine, chocolate)?
• Could it havebeen precipitatedor terminatedby any
medication?

21. SYNCOPE
• This is a faint or a swoon.
• Youmustdetermine whether there truly was a loss of consciousness
and not simply the feeling that the patientwas about to faint(pre-
syncope).
• In particular,canthe patientremember hitting the floor? If there
really was a loss of consciousness,attempttogaina collateralhistory
from witnesses. Determinealso:
• Was the onset gradual or sudden?
• How long was the loss of consciousness?
• What was the patientdoing at the time? (Standing, urinating,
coughing.)

22. • Were there anypreceding or associatedsymptomssuch as chest pain,
palpitations, nausea, sweating (see previously)?
• Was there anyrelationshipto the use of medication?
(Antihypertensivesand use of GTN-sprayare common culprits.)
• When the patientcame round, were there any other symptoms
remaining?
• Was there anytongue-biting or urinary or faecal
incontinence?
• Was there anymotor activity during the unconscious episode?
• How long did it takefor the patientto feel back to normal?

23. CLAUDICATION
• In true claudication, the patient describes the pain that:
• Feels like a tight cramp in the muscle.
• Usually occurs in the calf, thigh, buttock, and foot.
• Appears only on exercise.
• Disappears atrest.
• Mayalso be associatedwith numbness or pins- and-needles on
the skin of the foot
• Attempttoquantify wherever possible.
• In this case, determine the claudication distancethatis how far the
patient is able to walk before the pain starts.

24. REST PAIN
• A similar pain to claudication, but this comes on at rest and is usually
continuous a sign of severe ischaemia. The patientmay describe:
• Continuous, severe pain in the calf, thigh, buttock, or foot.
• Aching in nature.
• Lasts throughthe dayand night.
• Exacerbations of the pain maywakethe patient from sleep.
• The patient mayfind slight relief by hanging the affectedleg off
the side of the bed.

25. OTHER HISTORY
• Cardiac risk factors
• Age
• Gender: risk in males > females
• Obesity:
• Smoking:Quantify in pack-years.
• Hypertension: find when it was diagnosed? How was it treated?
Is it being monitored?

26. • Hypercholesterolaemia: increasingly,patients will know about this,
some will even know their last reading. When was it diagnosed? How
is it treatedand monitored?
• Diabetes:what type? When was it diagnosed? How is it treatedand
monitored? What are the usual glucosereadings?
• Family History:particularly 1st degree relatives who have
had cardiovascularevents/diagnoses beforethe ageof 60

27. PAST MEDICAL HISTORY
• Ask about:
• Angina if they havea GTN spray, ask how often they need to use it
and whether this has changed significantly recently.
• MI when? How was it treated?
• Ischaemic heart disease how was the diagnosis made? Any
angiograms?What other investigations has the patient had?
• Cardiac surgerybypass? Howmany arteries?
• AF or other rhythm disturbance whattreatment? On
warfarin?
• Rheumatic fever.
• Endocarditis.
• Thyroiddisease.

28. DRUG HISTORY
• Takeparticular note of cardiac medicationand attempttoassess
compliance and the patient's understandingof what the
medication does.

29. SOCIAL HISTORY
• As in anyother case, take note of the patient's employmentboth
how the disease has affected their ability to work and bear in
mind how any cardiac diagnosis mayaffectthe patient's
employability.

30. THANK YOU