Kahan's Chest Pain Wing has been launched to provide specialized and comprehensive chest pain treatment and PAMI (Primary Angioplasty for Myocardial Infarction) to patients suffering from a heart attack. Our wing has been set up to deal with chronic and acute cases of chest pain for:
Round the clock emergency services for patients suffering from heart attack.
Well-equipped ambulance offering basic and advanced life support systems.
Detailed assessment of cardiac and non-cardiac chest pain.
Helping patients and families understand symptoms and follow-up care.
Ongoing evaluation of cardiac risk factors.
Structured recovery support following a cardiac event.
Chest pain can come from the heart or from other causes entirely. These four topics explain how to tell the difference.
Heart attack or Myocardial Infarction: This occurs when a blood clot in an artery of the heart blocks blood flow to the heart muscle, leading to a heart attack.
Angina: This occurs when cholesterol deposits (plaques) build up on the inner walls of arteries of the heart, restricting blood supply to the heart. This restricted blood flow can cause recurrent episodes of chest pain referred to as angina pectoris or angina.
Chest pain in adults due to coronary artery disease presents itself in two ways. In the first case, one of the arteries is completely blocked and a part of the heart does not get blood supply. In this situation the patient develops sudden severe chest pain which may radiate to his/her neck or arm. Some patients get a sensation of severe compression of the chest. The second scenario is where the artery is only partly blocked and it is able to provide enough blood to the heart muscles. However, during activities when heart muscles need more blood, because of the blockages, it is not able to supply enough blood. In this situation the patient gets chest pain as described above. Pain gets better when he/she takes rest.
Chest pain that isn't related to a heart problem is more often associated with:
Heart attack or myocardial infarction is the biggest killer in adults. Whenever an adult develops sudden chest pain everybody thinks of heart attack. What about children? Sudden chest pain is not uncommon in children. In India we come across a lot of young adults with coronary artery diseases and heart attacks. Usually our eating habits and sometimes our genetic make-up are blamed for this. But, heart attack in children is extremely rare. Then why do children get chest pain?
Chest pain in children is usually mild, confined to one small area, brief and not related to exercise. In some children pain can be worse when they take a deep breath. Some of them have pain almost every day for weeks but for others this may be very intermittent or just one episode.
Even after detailed evaluation, a cause cannot be identified in most children. The most commonly seen problem in children with chest pain is Costochondritis. This is an inflammation of the rib joints. Costochondritis happens after some viral infection and it settles down by itself. Another important cause for chest pain in children is gastritis. With gastritis children may have pain in the abdomen. Pain may get better or worse after eating or drinking. Cardiac problems causing chest pain are extremely rare in children. By listening to a child's heart sound, a doctor will be able to tell easily whether there is any cardiac cause for the chest pain. Other rare causes are Pneumonia, Asthma, Pleuritis, etc. It is therefore important to see a doctor to evaluate, though most of the time these children do not require detailed investigations.
The children's heart department at Kahan Cardiac has the facilities for making appropriate diagnoses and interventions for congenital heart disease. Our paediatric cardiology outpatient service is available every day for providing diagnostic services and counselling for parents. The diagnostic department has Colour Doppler echocardiography facility, ECG, treadmill, and Holter monitor. The cardiac catheterisation laboratory is fully equipped and all catheter interventional procedures are performed here.
Don't wait — book a consultation with Dr. Hitesh J Shah and the Kahan Cardiac Chest Pain Wing team.
