Chest pain: differential diagnosis

Chest pain: differential diagnosis
First exclude any potentially life-threatening causes, by virtue of history, brief examination, and limited investigations. Then consider other potential causes. For the full assessment of cardiac pain, wait for a later blog entry :-)

Life-threatening
Acute myocardial infarction
Angina/acute coronary syndrome
Aortic dissection
Tension pneumothorax
Pulmonary embolism
Oesophageal rupture

Others
Pneumonia
Chest wall pain
Muscular
Rib fractures
Bony metastases
Costochondritis
Gastro-oesophageal reflux
Pleurisy
Empyema
Pericarditis
Oesophageal spasm
Herpes zoster
Cervical spondylosis
Intra-abdominal
Cholecystitis
Peptic ulceration
Pancreatitis
Sickle-cell crisis