Chest Pain in the Setting of Acute Stress: A Tale of Two Women.

Chest pain is one of the most common reasons for emergency department visits in the United States. Common etiologies of chest pain include both anxiety and myocardial infarction (MI); furthermore, anxiety and stress may contribute to the development of MI, particularly MI with non-obstructed coronary arteries (MINOCA). We present the cases of two women with acute chest pain in the setting of acute life stressors who were found to have MINOCA. We discuss the relationship between acute stress, chest pain, and MINOCA, as well as the importance of considering a broad differential diagnosis in women with acute chest pain.