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Chest pain and acute coronary syndromes

A practice question in the style of the PLAB 1 exam. Choose your answer to see the explanation.

A 50-year-old man has chest pain that is sharp, worse when he presses on a spot on his chest wall and lasts seconds. ECG is normal. He has no risk factors. Which description fits NICE's view of this pain?

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The answer is A: Non-anginal pain, so look for other causes.

Pain that is sharp, brief, reproducible by pressure and unrelated to exertion is non-anginal. With a normal ECG and no other concern, NICE advises considering other causes such as musculoskeletal pain rather than cardiac tests.

This question comes from Week 1 of PLAB Vault: Cardiovascular. That week has 124 more exam-style questions like it, 5 short lessons and 154 flashcards. Week 1 is free, with no card needed, so you can start on it today.

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