Hiccups as a sign of chronic myocardial ischemia.

Chronic myocardial ischemia often presents with a fairly typical history, but patients can present with atypical chest pain or pain referred to a less-typical location like the jaw, stomach, or back. Sometimes patients describe symptoms usually not attributed to heart disease, like indigestion or feeling cold and clammy, in the presence or absence of chest pain. One important clue to underlying coronary artery disease is the appearance of symptoms that are induced by effort and relieved by rest. This paper describes two unusual presentations of myocardial ischemia in patients whose main symptom was hiccups, the first intractable hiccups over months and the second effort-induced hiccups. Both also described atypical chest pain.