Chest pain is coronary artery disease or not?

Video content is professionally consulted by Assoc. Prof, Dr., Doctor II Chu Hoang Van, Department of Medical Examination, Vinmec Times City International Hospital

Coronary artery disease occurs when the coronary arteries are narrowed or blocked due to many different reasons, making the coronary artery system unable to meet the oxygen demand of the heart muscle. Usually, when coronary artery stenosis is more than 50% of the lumen diameter, signs of coronary artery disease will be noticed.
Chest pain, angina is an important symptom to help identify coronary heart disease. When the patient has angina, it feels like the heart is squeezed, constricted, pressed or sometimes a dull discomfort in the chest. The most common site of pain is behind the breastbone, mid-chest, or heart area.
Signs of angina may appear locally or spread to the neck, jaw, shoulder, left arm. Chest pain usually only appears for a very short time, about 10-30 seconds or a few minutes. If the pain lasts more than 15 minutes, it is likely that the patient is having a heart attack.
Angina has 2 types: stable angina and unstable angina. For stable angina, the cause is atherosclerotic plaque that narrows the coronary arteries. Signs of chest pain appear repeatedly during strenuous exercise but stabilize with rest.
Unstable angina is a more dangerous condition and if not treated in time can lead to a heart attack. To distinguish stable angina from unstable angina, we rely on the circumstances in which the angina occurs: at rest or with exertion. If the patient exerts himself to a certain extent before angina occurs, the condition is stable. On the other hand, if chest pain occurs even at rest, this indicates instability and is likely to turn into a heart attack or sudden death.
To identify signs of coronary heart disease, the doctor will order some necessary tests to see if this is coronary artery disease. Selected investigations include: Stress testing, Holter electrocardiogram, Doppler echocardiography, stress echocardiography; coronary tomography,...