title: Cough reflex by ventricular premature contractions.
abstract: A 72-year-old man was referred for further assessment of a chronic cough. He noticed an association between the episodes of coughing and palpitations. Electrocardiography (ECG) revealed normal sinus rhythm and sporadic unifocal ventricular premature contractions (VPCs). Each cough was preceded by a premature beat. Continuous wave Doppler echocardiography revealed a VPC-induced transient increase in the pulmonary artery blood flow. He was successfully treated for VPCs with oral disopyramide, resulting in subsidence of both the coughing and palpitations. We suspect that the VPC-induced hemodynamic changes in the pulmonary circulation might be responsible for coughing in our patient. Premature contractions should be considered as a possible cause of chronic dry cough in the clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: Division of Respiratory Medicine, Kyoto University Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niimi
authors.forename: Yasuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kihara
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sumita
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okano
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tambara
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujita
mesh_terms: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003371:Cough / Q000209:etiology*; D004206:Disopyramide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D004562:Electrocardiography; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018879:Ventricular Premature Complexes / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents; D004206:Disopyramide