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Chest Pain Center - Sioux City, IA

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Sioux City, Iowa

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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...

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Emergency Contact for Sioux City

  • In case of Emergency, call 911

Nearby Sioux City Hospitals *

Mercy Medical Center Sioux City
801 5th St
Sioux City, IA 51101
(712)279-2010

St Luke's Regional Medical Center
2720 Stone Park Blvd
Sioux City, IA 51104
(712)279-3500

Floyd Valley Hospital
714 Lincoln St NE
Le Mars, IA 51031
(712)546-7871

Pender Community Hospital
603 Earl St
Pender, NE 68047
(402)385-3083

Sanford Health Vermillion
20 S Plum St
Vermillion, SD 57069
(605)624-2611

Hawarden Community Hospital
1111 11th St
Hawarden, IA 51023
(712)551-3100

Providence Medical Center
1200 Providence Rd
Wayne, NE 68787
(402)375-3800

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