Misdiagnosis of Cardiovascular Disease
Misdiagnosis of Cardiovascular Disease
Early diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease is vital to preventing serious, even life threatening complications, such as cardiac arrest and death.
A diagnosis of cardiovascular disease may be overlooked or delayed because there may be no symptoms in some forms of cardiovascular disease, such as atherosclerosis, especially in early stages. Regular medical care is the best way to detect cardiovascular disease in its earliest stage before it leads to advanced cardiovascular disease and critical complications.
Some symptoms of cardiovascular disease can be vague or similar to symptoms of many other conditions. These types of symptoms can include weakness, cough, fatigue, dizziness, backache, indigestion, sweating, shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting. These symptoms may be attributed to other less serious conditions, such as anxiety, peptic ulcer, indigestion, GERD, gallstones, muscle aches, aging, or influenza....more about Cardiovascular Disease »
Diseases for which Cardiovascular Disease may be an alternative diagnosis
The other diseases for which Cardiovascular Disease
is listed as a possible alternative
diagnosis in their lists include:
Cardiovascular Disease: Medical Mistakes
Related medical mistakes may include:
Cardiovascular Disease: Undiagnosed Conditions
Commonly undiagnosed conditions in related areas may include:
Common Misdiagnoses and Cardiovascular Disease
Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss,
there are varying degrees of severity.
It is altogether too common for people to die from undiagnosed heart attack, or from delaying too long
to call for emergency help.
The prognosis for treatment is far better for patients treated in the early stages of a heart attack.
The most common misdiagnoses include heartburn, or other less severe causes of chest pain.
See the introduction to heart attack and the symptoms of heart attack.
Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also
many cases where people fear that they have a heart attack, but actually have something milder.
Some of the conditions which may be causes of chest pain, causing fear of a heart attack, including
an anxiety attack, heartburn, and so on.
See the causes of chest pain and the symptoms of heart attack.
Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations
and rapid heartbeat.
In rare cases, this undiagnosed condition can be fatal.
It should be considered for any unexplained heart rhythm abnormality.
Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed,
leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed.
People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack,
whereas there are various less dangerous possibilities.
After all, there are numerous causes of chest pain.
Some of the common conditions where a person may become concerned
about a possible heart attack include a panic attack (which often has
both chest pain and difficulty breathing), and heartburn/reflux type conditions.
Nevertheless, chest pain itself can be a potentially life-threatening symptoms,
and needs immediate professional attention.
Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue
with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test blood pressure.
The "cuff" around the arm to measure blood pressure can simply be too small to accurately
test a child's blood pressure.
This can lead to an incorrect diagnosis of a child with hypertension.
The problem even has a name unofficially: "small cuff syndrome".
See misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often
misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its misdiagnosis is even more likely in children.
Some of the symptoms of hypertension that can be overlooked include chest pain, headaches, abdominal pain, etc.
See symptoms of hypertension or misdiagnosis of hypertension.
Cardiovascular Disease: Rare Types
Rare types of medical disorders and diseases in related medical areas:
Medical news summaries about misdiagnosis of Cardiovascular Disease:
The following medical news items
are relevant to misdiagnosis of Cardiovascular Disease:
General Misdiagnosis Articles
Read these general articles with an overview of misdiagnosis issues.
About misdiagnosis:
When checking for a misdiagnosis of Cardiovascular Disease
or confirming a diagnosis of Cardiovascular Disease,
it is useful to consider what other
medical conditions might be possible misdiagnoses or other alternative
conditions relevant to diagnosis.
These alternate diagnoses of Cardiovascular Disease may already have
been considered by your doctor or may need to be considered as possible
alternative diagnoses or candidates for misdiagnosis of Cardiovascular Disease.
For a general overview of misdiagnosis issues for all diseases,
see Overview of Misdiagnosis.
