Soldiers' Heart Revisited

Chest pain (angina pectoris) is an important and highly prevalent complaint. During the history of medical and technological discoveries, attitudes and hypotheses on the origin of chest pain changed continuously and markedly. This led to numerous names and diagnoses for the same subjective complaint. At the beginning of the 19th century, cardiology started to develop into an important clinical sub-specialism. Mind-body interactions were always at the core of debates. The very tight relationship between brain and heart is still insufficiently recognized nowadays. By elaborating on Soldiers' Heart, especially since World War I ended a century ago, and this year's 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the historical views on (atypical) chest pain and mind-body interactions are discussed.