Differential Diagnosis of Chest Pain

Cardinal Presentations

This post is part of a series called “Cardinal Presentations”, based on Rosen’s Emergency Medicine (8th edition).

Fever
Weakness
Syncope
Altered Mental Status
Seizure
Headache
Dizziness and Vertigo
Sore Throat
Dyspnea
Chest Pain
Abdominal Pain
Nausea and Vomiting
Gastrointestinal Bleeding
Acute Pelvic Pain
Back Pain

An Algorithm for the Evaluation of Chest Pain

NOTE: Algorithm revised in November, 2017. The prior version is no longer supported but remains available here.

Guided Lecture

Watch “Chest Pain: It’s Giving Me Angina” from EM Ed. In this lecture Dr. Celedon reviews the critical differential diagnosis for chest pain and how to safely and effectively work up patient’s with this challenging chief complaint.

References

Brown, J. (2013). Chest Pain. In Rosen’s Emergency Medicine – Concepts and Clinical Practice (8th ed., Vol. 1, pp. 214-222). Elsevier Health Sciences.