Costochondritis, also known as costosternal syndrome, anterior chest wall syndrome, or parasternal chondrodynia, is a self-limited inflammatory condition of the costochondral junctions of the ribs at the sternum. It can be differentiated from nonmusculoskeletal causes of chest wall pain by its reproducibility on palpation of the affected joints. Costochondritis is responsible for thousands of emergency department visits for chest pain every year. The incidence is higher in females; however, the epidemiology is not well studied. Although the most common age range for costochondritis is middle age, 40 to 50 years, it also accounts for 10% to 30% of chest pain in adolescents.
Pediatric chest pain has a wide differential diagnosis spanning several systems, including musculoskeletal, cardiac, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, psychogenic, and infectious etiologies. The concern for cardiac etiology contributes to patient anxiety and, in many cases, worsening of the pain. One way to organize the differential diagnosis of chest pain on...
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