Palpitation in hypertension and in gastroenterological disesases

Abstract

Palpitation is a symptom that does not always mean heart disease - cardiological disease. In a healthy heart palpitations are most often caused by newly occurring or inadequately controlled hypertension, as well as gastroenterological diseases. Due to their significant underrepresentation in medical practice, it is necessary to draw attention to the fact that in every patient complaining of palpitations, we should first consider uncomplicated hypertension, and secondarily gastroenterological diseases – in addition to the possible cardiological disease – and carry out targeted examination and treatment. The very significant prevalence of hypertension (34–37% in Hungary) explains the most common occurrence of palpitations, which is about 60–70%. In the also little-known gastroenterological diseases (gastrocardiac (Roemheld) syndrome, GERD, inflammatory stomach and intestinal diseases) the incidence of palpitation is about 15–29%. Below we present in detail the investigation of palpitation from the anamnesis to instrumental examinations and its effective treatment (with common error possibilities) in hypertension and gastroenterological diseases.