Chest Pain – When It Might Be Serious

Chest Pain
Image: webmd.com

As an attending physician based in Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Kenneth “Ken” Mwatha draws on 10 years of experience and emergency care. Dr. Ken Mwatha leverages this experience to evaluate presenting patients and determine whether symptoms are likely to be life-threatening.

Although it is not always a sign of an urgent condition, chest pain is nothing to dismiss out of hand. It may be indicative of a heart attack, particularly if the pain lasts for longer than 15 minutes and is associated with feelings of pressure, tightness, heaviness, or fullness at the center of the chest. Often, a patient will feel these symptoms alongside radiating pain in the back, arms, or jaw.

A patient who is having a heart attack may experience non-cardiac symptoms as well. These can include shortness of breath and lightheadedness as well as nausea, vomiting, and cold sweats. Patients who are at risk of coronary disease, either due to lifestyle factors or medical history, should be particularly watchful of these symptoms.

Chest pain is less likely to signify a heart attack if it is sharp, short in duration, and occurs in isolation. There are, however, certain associated symptoms that indicate a non-cardiac problem. Pain that worsens with respiration, for example, may be due to a lung condition, while chest discomfort associated with feelings of fear or anxiety may indicate a heart attack.

Experts urge patients with chest pain to be cautious and seek out medical attention if they are at all worried that symptoms might be serious. Even if the condition is not imminently life-threatening, a physician can identify the cause of the pain and help the patient to seek appropriate treatment.

Fast Radio Bursts of Unknown Origin May Be More Frequent than Expected

 

Radio Bursts
Image: dailygalaxy.com

Dr. Kenneth (Ken) Mwatha works as an emergency physician in a Baltimore, Maryland hospital, where he diagnoses and treats life-threatening conditions in trauma patients and stabilizes critically ill patients. In Dr. Ken Mwatha’s free time, he enjoys astronomy.

In late September, astronomers discovered that fast radio bursts, often abbreviated to FRBs, may occur much more frequently than previously suspected. These powerful flashes of light, first witnessed in 2007, had only been seen a dozen times until recently.

According to a study out of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, at least one source of FRBs seems to be going off every second. The specific burst, known as FRB 121102, originates 3 billion light-years from our planet. While astronomers are unsure of the source causing these frequent bursts, theories range from the plausible, young neutron stars, to the more farfetched, intelligent aliens.

Though the source of these frequent FRBs is currently unknown, further study may reveal their origin, as well as help astronomers further piece together the early history of the universe. Anastasia Fialkov, the lead author of the study, said these frequent FRBs “could allow us to study the ‘dawn’ of the universe in a new way.”