Chest pain (angina pectoris)
Chest pain may have many different underlying causes. The underlying cause may be cardiac, i.e. related to the heart, or extracardiac, i.e. related to other organs surrounding the heart.
In view of the serious consequences, exact differentiation is of crucial importance. The cardiac causes of chest pain are diverse. However, coronary artery disease (Narrowing or blockage of the coronary heart arteries) is the most important underlying cause, because it may lead to a myocardial infarction (heart attack) if it remains untreated, due to sudden closure (blockage) of a narrowed coronary artery.