Unstable angina
Alternate Names : Accelerating angina, New-onset angina, Angina - unstable, Progressive angina
Symptoms & Signs
Symptoms include: - Sudden chest pain that may also be felt in the shoulder, arm, jaw, neck, back, or other area
- Pain that feels like tightness, squeezing, crushing, burning, choking, or aching
- Pain that occurs at rest and does not easily go away when using medicine
If you have stable angina, you may be developing unstable angina if the chest pain: - Starts to feel different
- Lasts longer than 15 - 20 minutes
- Occurs at different times
Diagnosis & Tests
The doctor will perform a physical examination and check your blood pressure. The doctor may hear abnormal sounds, such as a heart murmur or irregular heartbeat, when listening to your chest with a stethoscope. Tests to diagnose angina include: - Blood tests to check the levels of creatine phosphokinase (CPK), myoglobin, and troponin I and T (markers of heart muscle injury)
- ECG
- Echocardiography
- Stress tests
- Exercise or chemically-induced stress test (adenosine, dobutamine)
- Non-imaging (exercise treadmill) or imaging (nuclear stress test, echo stress test)
- Heart CT scan
- Coronary angiography (taking pictures of the heart arteries using x-rays and dye; it is the best test to diagnose significant heart disease)
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