Abstract
Many patients report chest pain of varying intensity at various locations during the first hours after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA).The aim of the study was to increase knowledge regarding differentiating between harmless chest pain versus ischemic chest pain, focusing on patients description of their pain.A total of 192 patients after elective PTCA were interviewed twice. In addition patients experiencing chest pain within 6 hours after the procedure completed the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ).Nonspecific chest pain occurred in 34 patients (18%) and ischemic chest pain in 6 (3%), whereas 152 (79%) did not report early chest pain after PTCA. The nonspecific pain group reported statistically significant less pain intensity (VAS P = .001), used fewer (P = .006) and qualitatively weaker (P = .008) words compared to the ischemic pain group. No predisposing factors that could predict chest pain were identified.Discriminators appear to be the pain intensity and the word descriptors. MPQ combined with a VAS could be valuable clinical tools with regard to patients' description of pain.
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