Although pneumomediastinum (PM) is a cause of chest pain, which can be diagnosed on a plain chest radiograph, emergency physicians frequently miss the diagnosis. As follows a description of findings of PM on a chest radiograph.
We examined the frequency of significant CAD in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain who have had a recent negative or inconclusive (<85% of predicted maximum heart rate) cardiac stress test.
Many emergency department (ED) patients with cardiopulmonary symptoms such as chest pain or dyspnea are placed in observation units but do not undergo specific diagnostic testing for pulmonary embolism (PE). The role of observation units in the diagnosis of PE has not been studied. We hypothesized that there was a small but significant rate of unsuspected PE in our observation unit population.
A 55-year-old Hispanic male had a pacemaker placed in Mexico approximately one year prior to presenting to the Emergency Department. He noticed minor discomfort in his left chest one month earlier but did not see a physician.
