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Chest Pain

Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center Our Services Chest Pain

Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center

Cardiovascular Disease Specialists & Interventional Cardiologists located in North Houston, Tomball, TX

Chest pain, the second most common reason people go to the emergency department, often signals an acute heart problem ranging from a heart attack to advanced atherosclerosis. Waqar Khan, MD, MPH, FACC, FSCAI, Alexander Trujillo, MD, and Steven Napierkowski, MD, at Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center in Tomball, Texas, provide comprehensive care for chest pain, including extensive diagnostic tests in the office, customized treatment, and minimally invasive endovascular procedures. Call or use the online booking feature to get prompt care for chest pain.

Chest Pain Q & A

What causes chest pain?

You can develop chest pain from conditions that aren’t associated with your heart, such as gastroesophageal reflux, pulled back muscles, and gallbladder disease. However, it’s the top symptom of heart problems such as:

  • Heart attack
  • Coronary artery disease
  • Aortic dissection (torn aorta)
  • Heart valve disease
  • Pericarditis
  • Myocarditis 

Chest pain is called angina pectoris when the coronary arteries are narrowed or blocked and can’t deliver enough blood to your heart muscles.


What symptoms develop along with chest pain?

Chest pain that’s due to heart disease often causes additional symptoms. You may experience:

  • Chest tightness or pressure
  • Pain that’s worse when you’re active
  • Pain that varies in intensity
  • Pain that radiates to your back, neck, shoulders, or arms
  • Shortness of breath
  • Racing or fluttering heartbeat (heart rhythm disorder)
  • Swollen legs and feet
  • Excessive sweating
  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Fatigue

Always seek emergency medical care if you have severe chest pain, a crushing pressure in the center of your chest, shortness of breath, or radiating pain.


How do cardiologists treat chest pain?

At Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center, you receive immediate, on-site tests to quickly determine the cause of your chest pain. Your provider may perform one or more common diagnostic procedures, such as an EKG, PET scan, echocardiogram, coronary angiography, stress test, or nuclear stress test. 

You may also need to wear a Holter monitor to measure the electrical activity of your heart for at least 24 hours.

Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center customizes your treatment to meet your underlying condition, which may include:

Lifestyle changes

Comprehensive care for a heart condition includes a healthy diet and other lifestyle factors such as exercise, losing weight, and stopping smoking when necessary.

Medications

Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center may prescribe one of many possible medications, depending on your diagnosis.

Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center specializes in minimally invasive endovascular procedures to treat cardiovascular conditions that may cause chest pain. Examples include:

Angioplasty and stenting

Your Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center provider guides a narrow catheter through your blood vessels to the plaque blocking a coronary artery. Then they inflate a balloon to push the plaque against the arterial wall and insert a stent to keep the vessel open.

Catheter ablation

Catheter ablation treats an irregular heartbeat using radiofrequency energy to destroy the small area of your heart that is causing the abnormal electrical signal.

Inserting a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator

Your provider inserts one of these devices to stabilize your heartbeat by producing electrical impulses.

Don’t wait to get help for ongoing chest pain. Call Lone Star Heart and Vascular Center, or schedule an appointment online today.

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