AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.

Chest Pain in Women -- In the Head or in the Heart?

Harvard Heart Letter

| August 01, 2000 | COPYRIGHT 2000 Copyright by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All Rights Reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)Copyright

Chest pain is an extremely common symptom and one of the most common reasons for individuals to visit general practitioners, cardiologists, and emergency rooms. For some people, chest pain is a critical warning that the heart muscle is not getting enough blood and oxygen - a condition known as myocardial ischemia, caused by severe narrowing of a coronary artery. Because chest pain can be the first sign of a number of serious conditions, including heart attack, both doctors and patients take it very seriously (and should). At the same time, most chest pain does not signal an imminent heart attack. In many cases, chest pain isn't directly related to the heart at all. Although it sometimes reflects a lack of oxygen to the heart muscle, more often it originates in the esophagus, in the lining of the lungs, or in the ribs and muscles of the chest wall. Some fleeting pains in the chest are so common that textbooks refer to them as "normal pains." So, chest pain can be anything from "normal" to the first sign of a serious and life-threatening heart problem.

Because chest pain is both common and potentially serious, a great deal of research has focused on how to evaluate patients with new chest pain. Numerous imaging tests and diagnostic procedures have become available for those experiencing symptoms that may signal a heart attack. While a doctor can usually exclude this diagnosis based on exercise and imaging tests, in ambiguous cases, a coronary angiogram may be needed to identify any blocked blood vessels.

Good News

When a coronary angiogram reveals that no arteries are blocked, it's a profound relief to patient and doctor alike. For the doctor, a normal coronary angiogram suggests an excellent prognosis for a patient with chest pain - long-term studies show that for such individuals, a major cardiac event is quite unlikely. The physician may pursue other tests to evaluate the esophagus, which can cause chest pain when it undergoes spasm or has acid reflux. Quite often, however, doctors simply assure such patients that their angiogram results are normal and that they should not worry about the chest pain.

Unfortunately, this reassurance often doesn't diminish the frequency or severity of the pain, and many patients continue to suffer. Although relieved that their long-term cardiac outlook is very good, these people are left to wonder what the problem is and whether it will ever go away.

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, journals, and more
Chest Pain and Angiograms.(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: Family Practice News June 1, 2001 700+ words
Women with ischemic chest pain and no coronary angiographic...similar to women with ischemic chest pain and coronary artery disease...and depression in women with chest pain despite normal coronary arteries, said Dr. Olson...
Test shows which women are at risk from noncoronary chest pain.
Newspaper article from: Medical Devices & Surgical Technology Week July 18, 2004 700+ words
...NewsRx.net) -- Women with chest pain who have a normal coronary angiogram can benefit from...could identify women with chest pain at high risk for repeat hospitalization...patients who have anginal chest pain in the absence of coronary...
Acute myocardial infarction in a 14-year-old male with normal coronary...
Magazine article from: Southern Medical Journal Tatli, Ersan Surucu, Huseyin Fatih, Ozcelik January 1, 2007 700+ words
...In patients with normal coronary arteries, there is...in the presence of normal coronary arteries. We report...sudden onset of severe chest pain waking him from sleep...angiography revealed normal coronary arteries, or "MINC...
The Best Approach to Women with Chest Pain.
Magazine article from: Clinical Cardiology Alert February 1, 2000 700+ words
...in women with stable chest pain consistent with angina...evaluating women with stable chest pain syndromes consistent...times the number of normal coronary angiogram patients as...in women with stable chest pain syndromes. There are...
CAR-4. Chest pain and increased Troponin: acute coronary syndrome?(Section on...
Magazine article from: Southern Medical Journal Kalyanasundaram, Arun Foltzer, Michael Gotoff, Robert Nassef, Louis A. October 1, 2004 700+ words
...outside hospital with chest pain for 1 day, EKG changes...presented there with sharp chest pain, refractory to sublingual...revealed angiographically normal coronary arteries. His picture...patient with atypical chest pain. Troponin is often...
It feels like a heart attack, but it's not a heart attack. (chest pain due to...
Newspaper article from: HealthFacts February 1, 1989 700+ words
...severe and recurring chest pain mistaken for heart disease...percent were shown to have normal coronary arteries. After reviewing...patients have continued chest pain and use medical facilities...further evaluation of chest pain," wrote Dr. Richter...
Studies conducted at Jagiellonian University on left ventricular hypertrophy...
Newspaper article from: Biotech Week August 13, 2008 700+ words
...hypertensive patients with normal coronary angiograms' have been...hypertension and a history of chest pain and normal coronary angiography, and to estimate...hypertension and a history of chest pain with normal coronary angiography, there is...
Recent findings from University of Malaya, Faculty of Medicine highlight...
Newspaper article from: Biotech Week March 4, 2009 700+ words
...chest pain and the response of chest pain to proton-pump inhibitor therapy...with recurrent angina-like chest pain and normal coronary angiogram were recruited. The frequency and severity of chest pain were recorded. All patients...
For more facts and information, see all results
©2009 Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.
About us | FAQs | Contact us | Privacy policy | Terms and conditions
Other Gale sites: Encyclopedia.com | HighBeam Research | Acquire Content | Books & Authors | Goliath | MovieRetriever | Smart QandA