Chest Pain in Spanish

What it means

Chest pain is discomfort or pain felt anywhere along the front of the body between the neck and the upper abdomen. Any organ or tissue in the chest can be the source, including the heart, lungs, esophagus, muscles, ribs, tendons, or nerves. It does not always mean a heart attack: other causes include angina, panic attacks, digestive problems such as heartburn, sore muscles, and lung diseases such as pneumonia. Pain from angina or a heart attack may feel like tightness, heavy pressure, squeezing, or crushing pain and may spread to the arm, shoulder, jaw, or back. Sudden crushing, squeezing, tightening, or pressure in the chest is an emergency sign that needs urgent care: call 911 in the U.S.

Spanish term: Dolor de pecho
Gender and article: masculine: el dolor de pecho
Pronunciation: doh-LOR deh PEH-choh

Other Spanish terms	Where it is used	Note
dolor en el pecho	General	Wording the MedlinePlus en español encyclopedia uses when it describes the pain of angina or a heart attack.
dolor torácico	General	Title of the MedlinePlus en español encyclopedia article, which also uses this form in its text.

Dolor de pecho is the title of the MedlinePlus en español health topic, and its summary uses that form when it says to seek urgent care si el dolor de pecho no se va. The medical encyclopedia on the same site titles its article Dolor torácico and also writes dolor en el pecho, so all three forms appear on MedlinePlus en español. Dolor is masculine: el dolor.

The encyclopedia lists opresión en el pecho, presión en el pecho and molestia en el pecho among its alternative names; the English article lists chest tightness, chest pressure and chest discomfort. Words a provider may offer when asking what the pain is like include agudo (sharp), punzante (stabbing) and sordo (dull). To say that the pain spreads, the encyclopedia uses irradiar: el dolor se puede irradiar al brazo, el hombro, la mandíbula o la espalda. The emergency sentence on the page is Llame al 911 o al número local de emergencias.

Phrases for an appointment

What a patient or a clinician might say, in English and Spanish:

Who	English	Spanish
Patient	I have had pain in my chest since this morning.	Tengo dolor de pecho desde esta mañana.
Clinician	Can you show me where it hurts? Is it on one side only?	¿Puede mostrarme dónde le duele? ¿Es en un solo lado?
Patient	It is in the middle of my chest, and it feels like pressure.	Es en el centro del pecho y lo siento como una presión.
Clinician	Does the pain go from your chest into your shoulder, arm, neck, jaw, or back?	¿El dolor se irradia del pecho al hombro, el brazo, el cuello, la mandíbula o la espalda?
Patient	Sometimes it spreads to my left arm.	A veces se me extiende al brazo izquierdo.
Clinician	Is the pain worse when you breathe deeply, cough, or exercise?	¿El dolor empeora al respirar profundamente, toser o hacer ejercicio?
Patient	It gets worse when I climb stairs and gets better when I rest.	Empeora cuando subo escaleras y mejora cuando descanso.
Clinician	If you ever have sudden crushing pain in your chest, call 911 right away.	Si alguna vez tiene un dolor opresivo repentino en el pecho, llame al 911 de inmediato.

In 9 languages

Language	Term
English	Chest Pain
Spanish (Español)	Dolor de pecho
Chinese (中文)	胸痛
Korean (한국어)	흉통
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)	Đau ngực
Filipino (Tagalog)	Sakit sa dibdib
Portuguese (Português)	Dor no peito
Thai (ภาษาไทย)	อาการเจ็บหน้าอก
Japanese (日本語)	胸痛

Where you'll see it

chartintake formmedical recordtriage note

Related ICD-10-CM category

ICD-10-CM code: R07 → Pain in throat and chest

Related terms

Your right to an interpreter in the United States

If English is not your primary language and you have difficulty communicating in English, you may need an interpreter or a translated document when you visit a doctor or dentist, go to the emergency room or pick up a prescription. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that two federal laws, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require programs that receive its funding to provide language access services free of charge.

You can ask when you make the appointment or at the front desk: "I need an interpreter, please." «Necesito un intérprete, por favor.»

More terms: Heart and circulation

All terms in this area: Heart and circulation — Corazón y circulación

Sources

This page is a language reference. It is not medical advice.