Heart Attack

Is It A Heart Attack Or Some Other Condition?

It’s sometimes hard to tell if chest pain is caused by a heart attack or another condition. For example, pain related to a heart attack is frequently mistaken for indigestion and can even be briefly and partially relieved with belching or antacids. Conversely, people with pain from gastroesophageal reflux (“heartburn”) frequently mistake their pain for heart pain. Conditions sometimes confused with a heart attack include:

Other heart conditions, such as

• Pericarditis (inflammation of outer covering of heart)
• Myocarditis (inflammation of heart muscle)
• Disease of cardiac valves (flaps of tissue that control blood flow through heart chambers)
• Acute aortic dissection, or the splitting of the wall of the aorta

Gastrointestinal conditions (conditions affecting the stomach or intestines)

• Gastroesophageal reflux, the backward flow of stomach contents into the esophagus producing a burning pain often referred to as “heartburn”
• Esophageal spasm, or a sudden contraction of muscle in wall of esophagus
• Duodenal or gastric ulcer – ulcers in the stomach or upper portion of intestine
• Gastritis, an inflammation of the stomach
• An inflammation of the gallbladder
• Gallstones
• Pancreatitis, which is an inflammation of the pancreas

Musculoskeletal disorders (conditions affecting muscle or skeleton)

• Fractured rib
• Costochondritis or an inflammation of one or more segments of rib cartilage

Lung conditions

• Pneumonia, an inflammation of the lungs
• Pulmonary embolism, a piece of a blood clot in the pulmonary arteries that usually comes from a detached blood clot formed in leg veins
• Pneumothorax or the presence of air or gas in space that holds the lungs