Myocardial infarction without pain. A study of the sensory function of the upper limbs.

The sensory function of the upper limbs was examined in 18 subjects who had a myocardial infarction without a well-defined episode of chest pain. The cutaneous pain threshold was significantly higher than in normals. The ischaemia of the upper limbs induced patterns of sensations different from the normals, with onset of pain and of autonomic and coenaesthesic disturbances. These modifications of the sensory function are the same as observed in subjects with a previous painful infarction, but are quite different from those observed in patients with angina pectoris.