Though it may seem that chest pain is more common than one thinks, and it would appear that chest pain always seem to be associated with a heart attack, there are a few other causes of chest pains, that should always be considered. It would be vital to separate these causes into life threatening and non life threatening causes, in order to efficiently define the nature of the emergency and hence your degree of concern and response.
Life threatening causes of chest pain
acute myocardial infarction - heart attack
angina/ acute coronary syndrome - pre heart attack
aortic dissection
tension pneumothorax
pulmonary embolism
esophageal rupture
for further info on their management see future posts