Abstract

GIRALDO M, Ángela María; UCROS, Enrique Carlos; VARON, Fabio Andres  and  MUGNIER, Jaqueline. Chest pain: Beyond the coronary syndrome. Revista médica Risaralda [online]. 2015, vol.21, n.1, pp.68-72. ISSN 0122-0667.

Chest pain is for the physician, an immediate challenge. This symptom is usually a benign etiology, but sometimes may portend an imminent catastrophe. Medical texts tend always to emphasize the high-risk nature with regard to this and its association with life-threatening etiologies, which can be a disabling or fatal nature and require an effective approach for diagnosis (1-2 ). The clinical history becomes a vital element for making a correct diagnosis through adequate description of (characteristics, intensity, location, duration, and triggers pain mitigating factors, associated symptoms, and in some cases the factors risk of some diseases) that rely on specific physical findings. Importantly, the prevalence of the etiologies of chest pain varies depending on the studied population (3). Studies in patients treated in emergency departments as presented interesting data: 60% of diagnoses of chest pain are not “organic” origin (not due to heart disease, gastrointestinal or pulmonary disease), chest pain cause skeletal muscle constitutes 36% of all diagnoses, followed by reflux esophagitis 13% and finally stable angina pectoris is responsible for 11% of episodes of chest pain, unstable angina or acute myocardial infarction presented at 1.5%. Among the causes of chest pain are also those arising in the mediastinum although they are rare; these are associated with signs and symptoms according to the involvement of different compromised or surrounding structures (4). The mediastinitis is an inflammation or infection of connective tissue surrounding mediastinal structures.

Keywords : Chest pain; mediastinum; mediastinitis; Salmonella; lymphoma.

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