A comprehensive clinical examination is the basis for selecting further diagnostic steps:
- General physical examination – including blood pressure, pulse, body weight, height; further:
- Inspection (observation) [among other things, because of possible secondary disease: heart failure (cardiac insufficiency)]
- Auscultation (listening) of the heart [to exclude relevant vitium/valvular defect].
- Auscultation of the lungs [due tosymptom: dyspnea (shortness of breath) and differential diagnoses:
- Bronchial asthma
- Bronchitis (inflammation of the bronchi)
- Heart failure (cardiac insufficiency)
- Pleurisy (pleurisy)
- Pneumonia (pneumonia)
- Pneumothorax (collapse of the lung caused by an accumulation of air between the visceral pleura (lung pleura) and the parietal pleura (chest pleura))]
- Health check (for follow-up treatment)
Square brackets [ ] indicate possible pathological (pathological) physical findings.
