Very Useful statement for taking care of patients with chest pain, not shocking news, but interesting to see in cardiology literature, they appreciate our concerns:
- Acute ischemia was diagnosed in 22% of patients who presented to the ED with sharp or stabbing pain and in 13% of those with pleuritic pain.
- Seven percent of patients whose pain was reproduced with palpation had ACS.
- The relief of chest pain with nitroglycerin is not predictive of ACS.
- One study reported that sublingual nitroglycerin relieved symptoms in 35% of patients with documented ACS compared with 41% of patients without ACS
- The relief of chest pain by “gastrointestinal cocktails” (e.g., mixtures of liquid antacids, and/or viscous lidocaine, and/or anticholinergic agents) does not predict the absence of ACS