Pain in the sternum - Causes and Symptoms

Definition

Pain in the sternum is a symptom that can depend on various conditions.

Depending on the triggering cause, the painful stimulus can present itself as a sharp pain that lasts a moment, or as a diffuse sense of oppression in the center of the chest.

Pain in the sternum may have a centralized location (heart and large vessels) or referred to other organs located in the area (lungs, esophagus, etc.); sometimes, this manifestation can also radiate to the back, shoulders and arms, jaw and neck.

A stabbing sudden onset stinging pain may be due to medical-surgical emergencies, such as acute myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism or dissecting aortic aneurysm.

If severe and prolonged, sternum pain may result from pneumothorax and acute pericarditis. When it is exacerbated by the breath, however, this symptom could be associated with causes of origin:

musculoskeletal (exposure to cold, rib trauma, herniated disc, abrupt movement or violent strain, fibromyalgia etc.),
intercostal (neuralgia and herpes zoster infection)
or pleural (pleurisy, pleural effusion, etc.).

A sudden constrictive pain localized to the sternum may be due, instead, to states of anxiety and stress.

Other causes include disorders of the gastrointestinal system: gastro-oesophageal reflux, hiatal hernia, gastroduodenal ulcer, pancreatitis, esophageal motility disorders and biliary tract diseases (calculi and cholecystitis).

Tumors with origin in the thorax and angina pectoris can also cause this manifestation. In the latter case, the pain is burning or gravitational, typically retrosternal, sometimes irradiated at the shoulders or at the high abdominal region.