Background and aim. Noncardiac chest pain (NCCP) is a medical condition described as acute, recurrent, or chronic chest pain, that is difficult to distinguish from ischemic heart pain, when the cardiac source has been excluded. Noncardiac chest pain represents a challenging clinical situation in gastroenterology practice, requiring sometimes a high amount of clinical investigation for a specific diagnostic. In some cases, the etiology is represented by esophageal diseases. This review aims to present the updated knowledge of the esophageal origin of NCCP.
Methods. A search was performed in the main databases containing medical publications. The following search terms were used: noncardiac chest pain, esophageal chest pain (ECP), pathophysiology, noncardiac chest pain etiology, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), motility esophagus disorders, functional chest pain. Observational studies were included. Studies that described only cardiac chest pain were excluded.
Results. Noncardiac chest pain requires precise recognition of signs, symptoms and diagnostic testing in clinical practice. Due to financial constraints on subsequent care, an accurate algorithm based on clinical noncardiac chest pain guidelines should be followed. Esophageal chest pain represents a challenging diagnosis.
Conclusions. Noncardiac chest pain is a prevalent and alarming symptom. Esophageal chest pain etiology should be considered once a cardiac source has been excluded.
