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PAIN IN THE CHEST (THORACIC PAIN)

- What is the right behaviour in case of pain in the chest?
- The Causes of pains in the chest :

1. Thoracic pain of cardiovascular origin
2. Thoracic pain of pleuropulmonary origin
3. Thoracic pain of digestive origin
4. Thoracic pain coming from the thoracic wall
5. Thoracic pain of neurological origin
6. Thoracic pain and anxiety

THE CAUSES OF PAINS IN THE CHEST

6 - Thoracic pain and anxiety:

It is evidently a diagnosis of elimination. It characteristically occurs in the less than 30 year-old woman and its features are:

- Absence of triggering factor;

- No nocturnal awakening;

- Very limited site or on the contrary spreading beyond the thorax;

- Accompanying functional signs.

Several pathological frameworks have been identified: fibromyalgia syndrome, hyperventilation syndrome, panic crisis, neurasthenia...

Nevertheless, these diagnoses must never formally turn down a more serious diagnosis (myocardial infarction for example).

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File last reviewed on dec 18, 2011