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General Cardiology General Medicine

What is going on here?

A first for me: a clinical quiz. The patient has had seventy birthdays. He presents with shortness of breath and constant chest pressure. These symptoms began abruptly 24 hours before presenting.  He describes feeling “dreadful.” Past history is remarkable for an implanted device 8 years ago. A thorough physical exam is… you guessed it…normal. Here […]

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General Cardiology Health Care Health Care Reform Healthy Living

Coronary CT scans for the evaluation of chest pain illustrates the health care expenditure debate…

During residency, there was always a case of mis-diagnosed chest pain to discuss in conference.  Incorrectly sending a patient home and missing the diagnosis of cardiac chest pain was an infrequent but repetitively observed phenomenon. So as to tread carefully with words, it is sufficient to say that even now, chest pain triage remains a […]