Panic Attack or Heart Attack? How to Know the Difference

25% of emergency room patients presenting with chest pain met the criteria for something else entirely, yet attending emergency department cardiologists failed to recognize it 98 times out of 100.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• What may look and feel like an apparent heart attack may actually be a panic attack, and according to researchers, the cost of misdiagnosing non-cardiac chest pain is high

• When a heart attack starts, blood flow to your heart has suddenly become blocked and the muscle can't get oxygen. If not treated quickly, the muscle fails to pump and …