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Chest Pain Center - Palm Springs, CA

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Palm Springs, California

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Chest Pain

Introduction

Chest pain is one of the most common complaints that will bring a patient to the Emergency Department. Seeking immediate care may be lifesaving, and considerable public education has been undertaken to get patients to access medical care when chest pain strikes. While the patient may be worried about a heart attack, there are many other causes of pain in the chest that the healthcare provider will need to consider. Some diagnoses are life threatening, while others are less dangerous.

Deciding the cause of chest pain is sometimes very difficult and may require blood tests, x-rays, CT scans and other tests to sort out the diagnosis. Often though, a careful history taken by the healthcare provider may be all that is needed to find the answer.

What are the sources of chest pain?

The source of pain may arise from a variety of potential sources:

  • the chest wall including the ribs, the muscles, and the skin;
  • the back including the spine, the nerves, and the back muscles;
  • the lung, the pleura (the lining of the lung) or the trachea;
  • the heart including the pericardium (the sac that surrounds the heart);
  • the aorta;
  • the esophagus;
  • the diaphragm, the flat muscle that separates the chest and abdominal cavities;
  • referred pain from abdominal organs like the stomach, gallbladder, and pancreas.

While each source of chest pain may have a classic presentation of signs and symptoms, there is significant overlap among the symptoms of each condition, and the symptoms may also be affected by age, gender and race.

What are the causes of chest pain?

Pain can be caused by almost every structure in the chest. Different organs can produce different types of pain but unfortunately the pain is not specific to each cause. Each of the following ca...

Recommended Reading Related to Chest Pain

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Emergency Contact for Palm Springs

  • In case of Emergency, call 911

Nearby Palm Springs Hospitals *

Desert Regional Medical Center
1150 N Indian Canyon Dr
Palm Springs, CA 92262
(760)323-6511

Eisenhower Medical Center
39000 Bob Hope Dr
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
(760)340-3911

John F Kennedy Memorial Hospital
47-111 Monroe St
Indio, CA 92201
(760)347-6191

Hi-Desert Medical Center
6601 White Feather Rd
Joshua Tree, CA 92252
(760)366-3711

San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital
600 N Highland Springs Ave
Banning, CA 92220
(951)845-1121

Hemet Valley Medical Center
1117 E Devonshire Ave
Hemet, CA 92543
(951)652-2811

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