noun, Physiology. 1. an instrument, often attached to an inflatable air-bladder cuff and used with a stethoscope, for measuring blood pressure in an artery. He who worships his sphygmomanometer as a thing apart and infallible will sooner or later come to grief.
Pericarditis is an inflammation of the tissue layers surrounding the heart. The chest pain of pericarditis is usually sharp and stabbing. It can radiate to the back, neck, or arm. The pain may worsen when taking a deep breath or lying flat and lessen when leaning forward.
Is your chest pain a heart attack or something else? That dull burning in your chest doesn't seem to be going away, and it feels like it's getting worse. Is it a heart attack or something else? That's a vexing question, one that millions of people and their doctors face each year. It's a problem because chest pain can stem from dozens of conditions besides heart attack, from pancreatitis to pneumonia to panic attack, reports the May 2010 issue of the Harvard Heart Letter. Doctors use several pieces of information to determine who is, and who isn't, having a heart attack.