[Differential diagnosis of cardialgia]

Three hundred and sixty-six patients (281 males and 85 females) were examined, 316 of them complained of pain the heart and retrosternal pain. Bicycle ergometry was conducted in all cases and the soft tissues of the neck, chest, and shoulder girdle were palpated carefully. In patients with angina pectoris tolerance to physical exertion was clearly diminished while palpation did not reveal, as a rule, disorders of sensibility in the soft tissues of the chest and shoulder girdle. Patients with pain in the heart of a neurotic character tolerated physical exertion fairly well and often had increased sensibility of the soft tissues in the left side of the chest and shoulder girdle. The intensity of cardialgia may be judged objectively by the degree of soft tissue tenderness and its spread.