Q: If I'm having chest pain, should I go to the ER right away or wait to see if it goes away?

Ask Our Expert About Chest Pain

About Our Expert

Michael A. Rossi, M.D. is chief of cardiology at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

A: Don’t ignore chest pain, waste time trying to diagnose it yourself, or hope it will go away! Get to an ER immediately. The fastest way to get there is to call 9-1-1. While you're waiting for the ambulance, chew and swallow an aspirin. If it turns out you aren’t having a heart attack, don’t worry about it or be embarrassed. It’s better to be safe than sorry, considering the possible consequences of not getting the help you need if you are indeed having a heart attack.

The best place to go if you are having a heart attack is Lehigh Valley Hospital. According to governement data, Lehigh Valley Hospital has the highest heart attack survival rate among the 4,000 U.S. hospitals that provide heart attack care. Read about it in the Aug. 20, 2008 edition of USA TODAY. 

Heart attacks are the number 1 killer of adults in the U.S., responsible for 1/2 million deaths each year. Two out of four people who suffer a heart attack do not get to the hospital early enough to receive treatment that can prevent heart muscle damage or death. The key to surviving a heart attack is having angioplasty to open the blocked artery as soon as possible.

Time is muscle! The longer the heart artery is blocked, the more heart muscle damage occurs. The American Heart Association recommends that, if you’re having a heart attack, the blocked blood vessel causing it should be opened within 90 minutes of your arrival in the emergency department. This recommendation has been supported by a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that rapid access to angioplasty does indeed save lives.

One of the reasons Lehigh Valley Hospital is USA's best hospital for heart attack care is the speed in which we provide care. We’ve implemented MI Alert for Heart Attacks, a rapid angioplasty program created several years ago by our ER doctors and cardiologists for treating patients having a heart attack. We educated paramedics and EMTs to use an EKG in the field to diagnose a heart attack. When they diagnose a heart attack, they radio ahead to our ER and communicate the EKG results to a doctor. If the doctor agress with the diagnosis, an MI Alert is initaited. With the ambulance en route, we prepare for the patient's arrival. When they arrive, they are immediatley taken to our cardiac catheterization laboratory to have the blocked artery opened. The “gold standard” for having an artery opened is 90 minutes after arrival. Thanks to MI Alert for Heart Attacks, our average is consistently less than 90 minutes.

Symptoms of a heart attack include:

• Chest discomfort or pain that lasts more than a few minutes
• Discomfort or pain in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach 
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort
• Cold sweats, nausea or lightheadedness

Remember, if you are suffering from any of these symptoms, don’t wait! Call 9-1-1 to get to Lehigh Valley Hospital's ER fast. We'll provide you with the USA's best heart attack care right away!

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