The Nation - News from Feb. 2, 1987

Patients complaining of chest pain are highly unlikely to have actually suffered a heart attack if tests fail to confirm an attack and they have no more pain within 24 hours, according to a new study. The findings should enable doctors to move patients out of expensive cardiac intensive care units sooner without sacrificing the quality of care, and begin testing for the real cause of the pain earlier, said Dr. Lee Goldman, a cardiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston who led the study. The research is published in the February issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.