Atypical chest pain of cardiac and esophageal origin.

Cardiac and esophageal causes of atypical pain in the chest are often a difficult diagnostic problem. The pain is considered atypical because of its unusual distribution or unusual precipitating and relieving factors. One hundred and five patients with such pain were evaluated by complete esophageal and cardiac investigation. Based on the results of the investigations, 43 patients were found to have esophageal disease, 12 had cardiac disease, 21 had both cardiac and esophageal disease, and 29 had neither disorder. When the 43 patients with atypical esophageal disease were compared with 100 consecutive patients who had gastroesophageal reflux, it was found that in the patients with atypical esophageal