THE ANTERIOR CHEST WALL SYNDROME—CHEST PAIN RESEMBLING PAIN OF CARDIAC ORIGIN

Abstract

The differential diagnosis of anterior chest pain has always been an important problem in clinical medicine. In the past few decades, it has grown steadily in importance and clinicians have become increasingly aware of the manifestations of coronary artery disease and its potentially malignant nature. This disease is so common and its recognition so essential that the clinician may feel safe in considering it as a possibility in any patient complaining of pain in the anterior chest wall. This is particularly true if the patient has an authenticated history of myocardial infarction or is in the so-called coronary age group. On the other hand, there are innumerable noncardiac conditions, visceral as well as somatic, that give rise to anterior chest pain and are to be suspected if one is to avoid an unwarranted diagnosis of coronary artery disease and the resultant unwise restrictions and their psychological consequences. It is well