Chest pain

Question 1

ΔΔ life-threatening causes chest pain?

Answer 1

• heart (MI, ACS)
• lungs (PE, tension pneumothorax)
• other (aortic dissection, oesophageal rupture)

Question 2

ΔΔ non-life-threatening causes chest pain?

Answer 2

• lung (pneumonia)
• chest wall (rib #, muscular, bony mets, costochondritis)
• heart (angina, pericarditis)
• GI (GORD, oesophageal spasm, cholecystitis, peptic ulcer, pancreatitis)
• infection (empyema, herpes zoster
• sickle cell

Question 3

key Ix in a chest pain Hx?

Answer 3

• CXR
• ECG
• FBC
• U+E
• troponin
• Well’s score +/- D-dimer