Chest pain is one of the most common emergency room complaints. Learn how ER doctors evaluate chest pain, rule out life threatening conditions like heart attack and pulmonary embolism, and decide who needs further testing.

A heart attack occurs when a coronary artery suddenly becomes blocked, cutting off blood flow to heart muscle. Learn the symptoms, how it is diagnosed, and why rapid treatment saves lives.

An in-depth look at heart attacks from first symptom to catheterization. Learn how STEMI and NSTEMI are diagnosed using EKG changes and troponin, and how emergency treatment restores blood flow.

Chest pain often triggers a troponin test. This cardiac biomarker detects heart muscle injury, but an elevated result does not always mean heart attack. The trend and the full clinical picture determine what it means.