Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0030193 (pain)
 261,466 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The appropriate management of medical emergencies is one of the most exciting challenges to the general practitioner. Acute chest pain represents a special challenge because many causes are life threatening. Unfortunately there has been a modern tendency to surrender the responsibility of the urgent call to other health professionals. However, responsible medical care demands that the practitioner updates his or her knowledge and training in this important area. Knowing the causes of chest pain and applying a logical analysis to the pain patterns should lead to a successful diagnostic process. If in doubt - think cardiac - and refer the patient speedily to your nearest coronary care centre.
 ...
PMID:Acute chest pain: a diagnostic approach. 724 59

The author comments on the report by Dr. Akbar Panju and associates (see pages 541 to 547 of this issue) on patient outcomes associated with a discharge diagnosis of "chest pain not yet diagnosed." Acute chest pain without evidence of cardiac involvement presents a diagnostic challenge for the clinician, particularly in the present climate of cost containment. Esophageal disorders and psychiatric conditions appear to be the most prevalent causes of noncardiac chest pain. Although screening by means of electrocardiography and cardiac enzyme testing may rule out acute ischemia, and other tests may clearly point to a gastrointestinal cause, it is possible for cardiac and gastrointestinal problems to present simultaneously. Understanding and managing persistent chest pain even after a diagnosis has been made continues to challenge clinicians and researchers, and further progress in this area will depend on multidisciplinary collaboration.
 ...
PMID:Managing acute enigmatic chest pain. 880 60

Acute chest pain patients without ECG-signs of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) on admission need to be earlier and better diagnosed to reduce use of expensive intensive care beds and to treat more patients with acute recirculation therapy. We investigated whether total CK-activity, CK-MB mass, CK-MB2, myoglobin, cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and T (cTnT) measured in venous blood on admission and after 1 and 2 h could be used to identify or exclude acute myocardial damage (AMD) in 22 acute chest pain patients without ECG-signs of AMI admitted to hospital within 6 h after onset of pain. Increases in CK-MB mass, CK-MB2, myoglobin and cTnI identified AMD in three patients classified retrospectively as AMI. Likewise, CK-MB mass, CK-MB2, cTnI and cTnT increased with time in three of seven patients classified as having unstable angina pectoris. CK-MB2 and cTnI increased with time in two patients with tachycardia belonging to the other heart disease group. The remaining seven patients of the non-heart disease group showed no change in any of the cardiac markers. Thus, early serial measurements of selected cardiac markers appear useful in identifying or excluding AMD 3 h after admission in these acute chest pain patients.
 ...
PMID:Serial measurements of cardiac markers to rule in or out acute myocardial damage less than 3 h after admission in acute chest pain patients without ECG-signs of acute myocardial infarction. 974 21

Acute chest pain is a common reason why people call an emergency medical dispatch (EMD) centre. We examined how patients with acute chest pain experience the emergency call and their pre-hospital care. A qualitative design was used with a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. Thirteen patients were interviewed, three women and 10 men. The patients were grateful that their lives had been saved and in general were satisfied with their pre-hospital contact. Sometimes they felt that it took too long for the emergency operators to answer and to understand the urgency. They were in a life-threatening situation and their feeling of vulnerability and dependency was great. Time seemed to stand still while they were waiting for help during their traumatic experience. The situation was fraught with pain, fear and an experience of loneliness. A sense of individualized care is important to strengthen trust and confidence between the patient and the pre-hospital personnel. Patients were aware of what number to call to reach the EMD centre, but were uncertain about when to call. More lives can be saved if people do not hesitate to call for help.
 ...
PMID:Patients with acute chest pain - experiences of emergency calls and pre-hospital care. 1623 38

Acute chest pain is a common presentation in emergency. After clinical assessment undiagnosed chest pain can become a difficult problem. Sympathetically mediated chest pain is a rare presentation, as it is similar to that of secondary hyperalgesia in the intact skin surrounding an injury site. We are reporting a case of a 62 years old man who presented with atypical chest pain four months after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). On investigation no new change was noticed than previous evaluation. On chronic pain assessment he was having hyperalgesia to light touch in addition to the spontaneous chest pain. He was treated as a case of sympathetically mediated chest pain, pain modulators, analgesics and Stellate ganglion block. Patient responded dramatically to Stellate ganglion block and returned to work within two weeks time. This case illustrated the importance of early diagnosis of sympathetically mediated chest pain and role of Stellate ganglion block.
 ...
PMID:Role of Stellate ganglion block in post CABG sympathetically mediated chest pain. 1807 45

Acute chest pain represents a very common clinical occurrence and at the same time poses a severe diagnostic dilemma. It can be due to an acute life-threatening event such as acute cardiac infarct, or a relatively harmless condition of pain and illness (e.g. vertebrogenic pain) under the main symptom category of acute chest pain. This often unclear symptomatic, behind which there can always be a life-threatening disease leads to an exaggerated grouping of patients into emergency cases and to an increased number of inpatients for observation. The diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome with no initial ECG changes typical for ischemia is especially problematic. The availability of modern multidetector computed tomography is becoming increasingly more important for radiologists in the diagnosis and clarification of acute chest pain. In this article the clinical difficulties and radiology options for the diagnosis of patients with acute chest pain will be presented and possible future algorithms for diagnosis will be discussed.
 ...
PMID:[Acute chest pain: a purely clinical problem or a question for radiology?]. 1840 73