Cardiac Asthma — A Fresh Look at an Old Wheeze

Abstract

Soon after Laennec's description in 1819 of the invention of the stethoscope and its use in auscultation, the term "cardiac asthma" began to appear in cardiologic treatises. In 1835, Hope¹ wrote that "an immense proportion of asthmas — and of the most dangerous and distressing cases, result from disease of the heart. . . . If the cause be overlooked, the asthmatic is harassed with a farrago of inappropriate and unavailing, not to say pernicious remedies. . . ." Clinicians who performed autopsies on their own patients realized that attacks of wheezing occurred in patients with severe heart disease and . . .