title: Acute chest pain.
abstract: Chest pain is the initial symptom of many life-threatening disease processes. Pain may arise from any structure located in the thoracic cavity. Cardiac causes of chest pain usually have anginal symptoms. Noncardiac causes have a variety of chest pain characteristics. Diseases that require immediate attention and intervention are myocardial infarction/unstable angina, dissecting aortic aneurysm, pericarditis, pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, pneumonia, and acute chest syndrome. In order to evaluate a patient with the complaint of chest pain, the advanced practice nurse must be familiar with the differential diagnosis approach to acute chest pain.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Hospital Center City Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Fallon
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roques
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000451:nursing / Q000503:physiopathology; D003422:Critical Care; D003663:Decision Trees; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors