Abstract
Pain is a valuable symptom in the diagnosis of cardiac conditions. In angina pectoris, for example, one patient may complain of a viselike constriction of the chest and another may merely experience a deep dull sensation that he dismisses as a transient numb feeling over the heart. This variation of response, as well as the different descriptions given by patients, 1 makes pain an equivocal symptom. However, it is not to be expected that all patients will give the same response to a given pathologic condition, nor even is it seen in the same individual at all times. Much of this apparent difficulty in the evaluation of pain can be overcome by taking a careful history and estimating the patient's sensitivity to pain by past experience. We have long been perplexed by the child who complains of a pain over the heart. A complete history of this disorder or an
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