Usefulness of the response to sublingual nitroglycerin as a predictor of ischemic chest pain in the emergency department

EA Shry, J Dacus, E Van De Graaff… - American Journal of …, 2002 - ajconline.org
Cardiovascular textbooks1–3 report that alleviation of chest discomfort with nitroglycerin is a
diagnostic clue to myocardial ischemia as the underlying cause. The Diamond and Forrester
criteria4 for establishing a likelihood of obstructive coronary artery disease uses pain relief
with rest or nitroglycerin as 1 of 3 symptoms to define typical angina pectoris. In the acute
care setting, underlying cardiac disease is frequently invoked to explain chest pain
symptoms that respond to nitrate therapy. Despite this, the scientific literature has little …