What Are the Most Common Causes of Right Chest Pain?

Right chest pain is a common clinical symptom, there are many reasons, and the location and severity of pain are not necessarily consistent with the location and severity of the lesion. It is common in diseases such as intercostal neuralgia, costal chondritis, recessive rib fractures and fracture deformity healing, reflux esophagitis, intrathoracic tumors invading the pleura, spontaneous pneumothorax, lobar pneumonia, and herpes zoster.

Basic Information

English name

right chest pain

Common locations

Right chest

Common causes

Caused by pleural disease, rib fractures, esophageal disease, cardiac neurosis, and infection with avian influenza virus

Common symptoms

Chest compressions, burning or numbness

Causes and common diseases of right chest pain

Pleural chest pain

It is the most common type of noncardiac chest pain, which is caused by inflammation, tumor, pneumothorax pulling on parietal pleura, and stimulation of intercostal and sacral nerves. Common diseases include pleurisy, pleural tuberculosis, empyema, pneumothorax, lung abscess ulceration, lung cancer invasion of parietal pleura, and pleural mesothelioma.

2. Chest wall pain

Caused by trauma and inflammation, resulting in pathological changes of neuromuscular periosteum. More common in rib fractures or fracture deformity healing, costal chondritis and shingles.

3. Esophageal chest pain

Esophageal and cardiac sensory nerve fibers are consistent, so stimulation of the esophageal mucosa will produce angina-like chest pain. Diseases that cause pain are commonly: reflux esophagitis, hiatal hernia, esophageal diverticulum, esophageal ulcer, Barrett's esophagus, and biliary heart syndrome.

4. Cardiac neurosis

Cardiac neurosis is caused by imbalance of autonomic nerves.

5. Mental chest pain

It is a special type of neurosis.

6. Other

Diseases that cause right chest pain may include syphilitic osteochondritis, chest wall soft tissue damage, and highly pathogenic avian influenza virus infection.

Differential diagnosis of right chest pain

Left chest pain

It is a common symptom in the emergency department. It is usually caused by cardiovascular, respiratory, and pleural diseases. The severity of chest pain may not necessarily have an exact relationship with the cause of chest pain.

2. Pectoralis major muscle pain

Generally, it is aseptic inflammatory lesions at the pectoralis major muscle attachment site, the pectoralis major muscle strain and strain, and the soft tissue damage outside the spinal canal.

3. Cardiogenic chest pain

Often thought to be coronary heart disease, angina pectoris, and even myocardial infarction in the elderly. In fact, not all cardiogenic chest pain is caused by coronary heart disease. At present, many adolescents also often experience cardiogenic chest pain.

4. Chest wall pain

In order to have the highest incidence of chest pain in the general population, attention should be paid to accidents caused by trauma.

Right chest pain check

First of all, cardiogenic factors must be excluded, and electrocardiogram, plate test, echocardiogram, etc. must be done. Internal medicine examination is one of the inspection items that must be checked in the routine inspection items. Through medical history inquiry, understand the important diseases of the examinee, and assess the physique and nutritional status of the examiner, and comprehensively evaluate the health status. Chest wall examination is an important examination in chest examination, which generally includes nutritional status, skin, lymph node and skeletal muscle development, etc. In addition, the focus is on veins, subcutaneous emphysema, chest wall tenderness, intercostal space, etc. X-ray examination can initially find chest tumors, pneumonia, pneumothorax, rib fractures, CT and 3D imaging can confirm the diagnosis; MRI can find rib cartilage inflammation and tumors; gastroscopy revealed esophageal reflux and esophageal diseases.

Right chest pain treatment principles

Treat the cause of right chest pain.

Pleural chest pain

Pleuritis, pleural tuberculosis, empyema, pneumothorax, and lung abscesses can be treated with thoracic irrigation and drainage. Lung cancer and pleural mesothelioma can be treated with cryotherapy for tumors. Chemotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine syndrome differentiation treatment are available.

2. Chest wall pain

Rib fractures or fracture deformity healing, costal chondritis, and herpes zoster can all be treated with intercostal nerve cryosurgery to relieve pain.

3. Esophageal chest pain

Barrett's esophagus, esophageal diverticulum, benign and malignant esophageal stenosis require surgery; reflux esophagitis is used as a regular anti-reflux treatment, and anti-reflux surgery is not effective.