Clinical Study

The Challenge of Triaging Chest Pain Patients: The Bernese University Hospital Experience

Table 2

Final diagnosis at the ED of 301 Patients.


Musculoskeletal chest pain82 (27%)
Acute coronary syndrome56 (19%)
ST-elevation myocardial infarction16 (5%)
Non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction28 (9%)
Unstable angina pectoris12 (4%)
Panic attack38 (12%)
Cardiac arrhythmia31 (10%)
Chronic lung disease22 (7%)
Heart failure21 (7%)
Lower respiratory tract infection16 (5%)
Dyspepsia15 (5%)
Pulmonary embolism10 (3%)
Hypertensive crisis7 (2%)
Upper respiratory tract infection6 (2%)
Vasovagal Syncope5 (2%)
Pericarditis3 (1%)
Abdominal disease3 (1%)
Pneumothorax1 (0.5%)
Other 5 (2%)

More than one diagnosis per patient possible.
Other: Newly diagnosed cancer, haematoma in the pouch of an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator, instent stenosis of the subclavian artery, skin infection, cerebral haemorrhage.