Chest pain may be a symptom of a number of serious conditions and is generally considered a medical emergency. Even though it may be determined that the pain is non-cardiac in origin, this is often a diagnosis of exclusion made after ruling out more serious causes of the pain.
Differential diagnosis Of Acute Chest Pain
The causes of chest pain range from non-serious to life threatening.DiagnosisPro lists more than 440 causes.
Cardiovascular
* Acute coronary syndrome
o Unstable Angina Pectoris - requiring emergency medical treatment but not primary intervention as in a myocardial infarction.
o Myocardial infarction ("heart attack")[3]
* Aortic dissection
* Pericarditis and cardiac tamponade
* Arrhythmia - atrial fibrillation and a number of other arrhythmias can cause chest pain.
* Stable angina pectoris - this can be treated medically and although it warrants investigation, it is not an emergency in its strictest sense
Pulmonary
* Pulmonary embolism
* Pneumonia
* Hemothorax
* Pneumothorax and Tension pneumothorax
* Pleurisy - an inflammation which can cause painful respiration
GI
* Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and other causes of heartburn
* Hiatus hernia
* Achalasia, nutcracker esophagus and other neuromuscular disorders of the esophagus
* Functional dyspepsia
Chest wall
* Costochondritis or Tietze's syndrome - a benign and harmless form of osteochondritis often mistaken for heart disease
* Spinal nerve problem
* Fibromyalgia
* Chest wall problems
* Radiculopathy
* Precordial catch syndrome
* Breast conditions
* Herpes zoster commonly known as shingles
* Tuberculosis
