Woman With Left-Sided Chest Pain

Right-sided chest pain with progressive dyspnea.

(Chest 1991; 100:811-12) A 45-year-old housewife was referred for evaluation ofright-sided chest pain with progressive dyspnea of six months’ duration. Three months prior to presentation, she had been treated by her community doctor with 15 days ofantibiotic therapy. Thoracentesis at that time yielded sterile fluid with negative cytologic findings. The patient denied any history of fever, sweat...

49-year-old woman with chest pain.

A young woman with chest pain.

A case of a previously fit young woman admitted with chest pain, who was found at coronary angiography to have dissection of the left main stem which extended to the left anterior descending and circumflex coronary arteries, is presented. Emergency coronary artery bypass grafting was performed (vein grafts to the left anterior descending, the diagonal, and circumflex arteries). The patient made...

Middle-aged Woman With Recurrent Chest Pain

An initial ECG revealed striking ST-segment elevations and T-wave inversions in the anteroseptal leads; these findings appeared to be acute. The cardiac troponin levels and creatine kinase (CK) and MB CK fractions obtained during a "rule out myocardial infarction (MI)" protocol were all elevated. In the first 24 hours, no signs or symptoms of congestive heart failure appeared and oxygen saturat...

Chest pain in a young woman.

Chest pain in a young person is often caused by chest wall tenderness, associated with mitral valve prolapse, or attributed to psychologic factors. Ischemic cardiac pain may be overlooked because of its rare occurrence in this age group. A 35-year-old woman complained of substernal chest pressure precipitated by exertion and relieved by rest. The symptom had been noted for 15 years. Worsening o...