CARDIONEUROSES (THE CLINICAL PICTURE, DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT)

As a result of clinico-psychopathological and prospective studies (throughout 20 years) of 119 patients diagnosed earlier to have cardioneuroses (neurocirculatory dystonia), it has been established that cardioneuroses cannot be regarded as an independent disease entity since they represent chronic and latent forms of multifactorial mental diseases developing on the basis of affective pathology. Cardioneuroses do not transform to organic lesions of the cardiovascular system and cannot thus be viewed as initial stages of this system diseases including essential hypertension and coronary heart disease. To raise the quality of medical assistance rendered to patients suffering from cardioneuroses, it is advisable that psychosomatic rooms may be set up at the territorial polyclinics.