Mercy Medical Center St. Mary’s opens chest pain center

Mercy Medical Center St. Mary’s has opened a new Chest Pain Center in the emergency department to help speed the diagnosis and treatment of individuals suffering from chest pain or other heart attack symptoms.

“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women, and chest pain is one of the most common reasons people visit the ER, said Robert Brown, R.N., the clinical coordinator of the Mercy St. Mary’s Chest Pain Center. “Patients with chest pain or other heart attack symptoms will receive immediate medical evaluation by Mercy physicians. The doctors can monitor a patient in the Chest Pain Center in order to five a patient a fast, accurate diagnosis. Then, a patient can either go home reassured they did not have a heart attack or be admitted to the hospital for additional care if necessary.”

Brown said that the Mercy St. Mary’s Chest Pain Center has the newest state-of-the-art diagnostic tools and technology to assist physicians in determining a patient’s condition.

“With a modern heart cath department, a 64-slice CT scanner and point-of-care bedside treatment and testing, the Chest Pain Center can provide a patient with the answers they need about their chest pain and get that patient to treatment or surgery as soon as possible,” Brown said.

Approximately 1.2 million Americans suffer a heart attack each year and nearly one-third of these will die. Often people are not sure about what’s wrong and simply dismiss the chest pain as heartburn or a pulled muscle.

In a heart attack, a vessel supplying the heart muscle with blood and oxygen becomes blocked. The vessel has been narrowed by a slow buildup of fatty deposits made mostly of cholesterol. That part of the muscle will begin to die if the individual does not immediately seek medical attention.

These are some of the symptoms of a heart attack in both men and women:

For men, there is chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back. The discomfort can feel like pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain. There can also be discomfort in others areas of the upper body. This can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. Some people experience shortness of breath occurring with or before chest discomfort. Other symptoms can include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

For women, there can be pressure, fullness, squeezing pain in the center of the chest, spreading to the neck, shoulder or jaw. Some women experience chest discomfort with lightheadedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath. There can also be abdominal pressure or discomfort, lower chest discomfort, back pain, unusual fatigue, shortness of breath and dizziness.

Anyone experiencing these symptoms should call 911 immediately. Treatments are most effective when they occur in the early stages of chest pain.

Mercy has 24/7 ER services at all seven of its acute care hospitals in East Tennessee. These include Mercy Medical Centers St. Mary’s, North and West in Knox County, Baptist Hospital of Cocke County, St. Mary’s Medical Center of Campbell County and St. Mary’s Medical Center of Scott County. The ER at St. Mary’s Jefferson Memorial Hospital is currently undergoing a renovation and expansion that will add six exam rooms to the ER in Jefferson City.