Precordial catch syndrome
Also called: Texidor's twinge
A sudden, sharp, stabbing pain near the heart that lasts seconds to a few minutes and gets worse when you breathe in. Doctors count it among the most common causes of chest pain in children and teenagers, and it is harmless.
How common
Does this happen to you?
How it works
The pain is sharp and very local. You can usually point to it with one finger, often below the left breast4. It usually starts at rest14. Some people notice it after slouching or bending over4. It usually lasts from a few seconds to about three minutes, and rarely longer14. Breathing in makes it worse, so people often take shallow breaths until it passes14.
The cause is not fully known. The leading idea is an irritated nerve in the chest wall, one of the intercostal nerves that run between the ribs12. Another idea is a brief irritation of the pleura, the lining around the lungs4. The heart is not involved. Heart tests are rarely needed4.
Miller and Texidor described it in 10 patients in 195514. A French doctor, Henri Huchard, wrote about it in 18931. It is most common in children and teenagers, from about age 614. It usually fades with age, but some adults still get it14.
How common it is
The 80% to 90% figure is a share of chest pain that young people bring to a doctor, once injury has been ruled out4. It is not a share of the population, and it does not mean that most children get this pain. The figure is what paediatricians report from clinic, not the result of a survey4. In a 2013 study of 380 children sent to a heart clinic, this syndrome and other mixed causes made up 15%5. No large study has counted the syndrome in a population. Doctors recognise it by its pattern, not by a test, and it is often missed4.
Is it a problem?
No. It is not a heart attack, and it does not damage anything. Heart attack pain is more often a pressure or squeezing feeling that can spread to the shoulders or arms3. Sharp, stabbing pain that is worse when you breathe in makes a heart attack less likely3. It goes away on its own, usually within a few minutes1. Some people find that one deep breath ends it faster, at the cost of one sharp jab.
See a doctor if chest pain:
- comes with shortness of breath,
- spreads to the arm or jaw,
- comes with sweating or nausea,
- happens during exercise.
Those are not the pattern of this syndrome.
Sources and further material
- Wikipedia Precordial catch syndrome
- NCBI Practical Tips for Paediatricians: Precordial catch syndrome Free full text. States the 80% to 90% figure for chest pain once trauma is excluded.
- doi.org Clinical characteristics and causes of chest pain in 380 children referred to a paediatric cardiology unit Cardiology in the Young 23(3). Musculoskeletal pain 37.1%, idiopathic 29.2%, miscellaneous disorders such as precordial catch 15%.
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