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Treatments and drugs

By Mayo Clinic staff

Treatment will vary, depending on the underlying cause of your chest pain.

Medications
Drugs used to treat some of the most common causes of chest pain include:

  • Artery relaxers. Nitroglycerin — usually taken as a tablet under the tongue — relaxes heart arteries, so blood can flow more easily through the narrowed spaces. Some blood pressure medicines also relax and widen blood vessels.
  • Clot-busting drugs. If you are having a heart attack, you may receive drugs that work to dissolve the clot that is blocking blood from reaching your heart muscle.
  • Blood thinners. If you have a clot in an artery feeding your heart or lungs, you'll be given drugs that inhibit blood clotting — to help prevent more clots from forming.
  • Antacids. If your chest pain is caused by stomach acid splashing up your esophagus, the doctor may suggest medications that reduce the amount of acid in your stomach.
  • Anti-anxiety drugs. If you are experiencing panic attacks, your doctor may prescribe anti-anxiety drugs to help control your symptoms.

Surgical and other procedures
Procedures used to treat some of the most dangerous causes of chest pain include:

  • Balloons and stents. If your chest pain is caused by a blockage in an artery feeding your heart, doctors insert narrow tubing into a large blood vessel in your groin and then thread it up to the blockage. They then deploy a balloon to reopen the artery. In many cases, a small wire mesh tube (stent) is inserted to keep the artery open.
  • Bypass surgery. During this procedure, surgeons take a blood vessel from another part of your body and use it to create an alternative route for blood to go around the blocked artery.
  • Dissection repair. You may need emergency surgery to repair an aortic dissection — a life-threatening condition that can result in the rupture of the artery that carries blood from your heart to the rest of your body.
  • Lung reinflation. If you have a collapsed lung, doctors may insert a tube in your chest, which allows the lung to reinflate.
Tests and diagnosis
References
  1. Goldman L. Approach to the patient with possible cardiovascular disease. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2011. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/191371208-2/0/1492/0.html#. Accessed Oct. 3, 2011.
  2. Brown JE, et al. Chest pain. In: Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..X0001-1--TOP&isbn=978-0-323-05472-0&uniqId=230100505-57. Accessed Oct. 3, 2011.
  3. Meisei JL. Diagnostic approach to chest pain in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 4, 2011.
  4. Sabatine MS, et al. Approach to the patient with chest pain. In: Bonow RO, et al. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 9th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2012. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4377-0398-6..C2009-0-59734-6--TOP&isbn=978-1-4377-0398-6&about=true&uniqId=236798031-10. Accessed Oct. 4, 2011.
  5. Meisei JL. Differential diagnostic of chest pain in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 4, 2011.
  6. Lee-Chiong L, et al. Evaluation and treatment of chest pain. In: Mason RJ, et al. Murray and Nadel's Textbook of Respiratory Medicine. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/192068760-2/0/1288/0.html. Accessed Oct. 5, 2011.
  7. Yelland M, et al. An algorithm for the diagnosis and management of chest pain in primary care. Medical Clinics of North America. 2010;94:349.
  8. What is coronary artery bypass grafting? National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/cabg. Accessed Oct. 5, 2011.
  9. Ankel F. Aortic dissection: Management. In: Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2010. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-323-05472-0..X0001-1--TOP&isbn=978-0-323-05472-0&uniqId=230100505-57. Accessed Oct. 5, 2011.
  10. Grogan M (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 17, 2011.
DS00016 Dec. 1, 2011

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