Chest Pain

When patients are in the throes of a heart attack, there's no question that stents save lives. But for heart patients with few symptoms and less than severe artery blockage, whether to use a stent is a question with no clear-cut answer, say cardiologists. In fact, these days some heart experts say the mesh metal tubes used to keep narrowed or weakened arteries propped open are overused for blockages that can be treated just as well with medicine, a healthy diet and exercise. A recent internal review of heart patients at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson found 369 patients received the coronary implants unnecessarily.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, but many don't recognize the warning signs. They may ignore the symptoms or mistake them for more benign ailments. Dr. Shannon J. Winakur, medical director of the Women's Heart Center at Saint Agnes Hospital, said women should be more aware of heart disease and how to prevent it. How are the warning signs of heart disease different in women? Warning signs of heart disease typically occur with exertion and go away with rest. The classic symptom of heart disease is a dull tightness in the center of the chest, which may or may not radiate to the neck, jaw, left shoulder or left arm. Women can certainly have these symptoms, but they also often describe sharp or burning chest pain.

Carroll County Commissioner Richard T. Yates was released yesterday from Carroll County General Hospital after being admitted Tuesday because of tightness in his chest.Mr. Yates, 70, said he went to the hospital emergency room "as a precaution" after feeling discomfort in his chest late Tuesday afternoon. He said that hospital doctors decided to keep him overnight to monitor his heart and for a series of tests, including an electrocardiogram, a stress test and blood tests.Mr. Yates was released from the hospital last night and said the tests did not indicate a specific problem.

Q: Last week, while I was running to catch a plane, I felt a pain in my chest. I exercise regularly and have never felt anything like it, even when I work out very strenuously. What happened?A: This pain is sometimes known as "airport angina" and is caused by a partial obstruction of blood flow through the vessels that carry blood to the heart.The blood that is pumped inside your heart does not nourish the muscle. The oxygen your heart needs comes from blood vessels on its surface. As long as your heart muscle can get all the oxygen it needs, it should not hurt.

Art Donovan, the colorful and vociferous former Baltimore Colts defensive lineman and their first Hall of Famer, was hospitalized last night after suffering chest pains while dining at a Jacksonville, Baltimore County, restaurant.Carol Smith, nursing supervisor at St. Joseph Hospital in Towson, said today that Donovan was in stable condition.Smith declined to give details about Donovan's condition or reveal if he had suffered a heart attack, though he was being treated in the Coronary Care Unit, where he was said to be "resting comfortably."

The speaker of the House of Delegates, Casper R. Taylor Jr., was hospitalized yesterday after complaining of chest pains. The Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., reported Mr. Taylor, 60, in serious but stable condition yesterday evening.The speaker, who just last week had completed the grueling 90-day legislative session in Annapolis, complained to his family of chest pains over the weekend, said Dan McMullen, a family friend.When the pain returned yesterday after a midmorning walk around his Cumberland neighborhood, Mr. Taylor and his wife, Polly, drove to the city's Memorial Hospital and Medical Center, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit.

The trial of a 17-year-old youth charged with killing a Morgan State University student ended in a mistrial yesterday when a juror suffered chest pains during deliberations in Baltimore Circuit Court.Kenneth Andrew Bond of the 4600 block of Marble Hall Road in Northeast Baltimore is charged as an adult with first-degree murder, attempted murder, attempted robbery and use of a handgun in the fatal shooting of Terrence Augusta McKoy, 19, a Morgan State freshman, and the wounding of Robert Lucas, 10, who was hit by a stray bullet.

Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake stepped out of a black SUV shortly after being released from the hospital Thursday afternoon and teetered in stiletto heels toward City Hall. "I guess I wore the wrong shoes to show I'm back on my feet," she said with a wry grin. The mayor was hospitalized for eleven hours after she awoke before dawn with chest pains, numbness and dizziness. Doctors performed a battery of tests and determined that the 39-year-old was suffering from gastro-intestinal difficulties, she said.