Chest pain is a very common complaint which many of you must have encountered at some point in your life. Chest pain is a characteristic of many different conditions which may be mild such as acid reflux or life threatening such as heart problems. As chest pain may indicate a potential heart problem therefore chest pain should not be taken lightly and a physician should be consulted.

Causes of chest pain

Some of the common causes of chest pain are:

Angina Pectoris: A typical characteristic of heart disease it occurs as a squeezing pain, usually in the left side of the chest and may radiate to left arm. It occurs as a result of decreased blood supply to the muscles of the heart which happens due to narrowing of the blood vessels.

Heart Attack: Medically known as Myocardial Infarction, heart attack is an emergency condition characterized by severe chest pain.

Acid reflux: Also known as Gastro esophageal reflux disease, if is often the cause of chest in many individuals.

Anxiety and panic attack: Chest pain may be one of the symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks, accompanied by rapid breathing and sweating.

Some of the other causes of chest pain include pericarditis, injury to the chest area leading to broken or bruised ribs, shingles or in some cases pain referred from abdominal conditions such as gall bladder stone, stomach ulcers etc.

Diagnosis of Chest Pain

Early diagnosis of the condition causing chest pain is required due to certain life threatening conditions which may cause this symptom. Diagnosis is done by clinical history, physical examination and various diagnostic tests such as electrocardiogram, CXR, echocardiogram, angiogram, endoscopy and CT scan.

Management of Chest Pain

Treatment of chest pain is done according to the underlying cause of the pain.

If the cause of chest pain is due to disease of heart and arteries the following treatment is prescribed:

• Vasodilator drugs such as nitroglycerin are given to relieve the pain of angina.
• Anticoagulant drugs such as aspirin are given to dissolve the clot which has blocked the blood vessels.
• Surgery is done to remove the blood clot from the blood vessels supplying the heart.
• Drugs are given to lower the blood pressure.

For conditions not related to heart, following treatments may be prescribed:

• If there is infection of lungs, antibiotics are prescribed.
• For muscular pain NSAIDs such as ibuprofen are given.
• For panic attacks, anti anxiety medications are given.
• For GERD antacids are prescribed.