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Neurological Causes of Chest Pain

  • Secondary Headache (M Robbins, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Chest pain is a very common presenting complaint among patients in the hospital, a large proportion of whom have non-cardiac chest pain (NCCP). Neurological causes of NCCP have not been previously reviewed although several causes have been identified.

Recent Findings

Chest pain has been reported as a symptom of multiple neurological conditions such as migraine, epilepsy, and multiple sclerosis, with varying clinical presentations. The affected patients are often not formally diagnosed for long periods of time due to difficulties in recognizing the symptoms as part of neurological disease processes.

Summary

This paper will briefly summarize well-known etiologies of chest pain and, then, review neurological causes of NCCP, providing an overview of current literature and possible pathophysiologic mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

    Ushna Khan

  2. Department of Neurology, Weill Cornell Medicine, 520 East 70th Street, Starr Pavilion 607, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    Matthew S. Robbins

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Ushna Khan declares no conflicts of interest. Dr. Matthew Robbins serves on the board of directors for the American Headache Society, the editorial board for Headache, and is a section editor for Current Pain and Headache Reports. He has received book royalties from Wiley.

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Khan, U., Robbins, M.S. Neurological Causes of Chest Pain. Curr Pain Headache Rep 25, 32 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-021-00944-5

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