Costochondritis symptoms can be similar to the chest pain associated with a heart attack.[7][9] Unexplained chest pain is considered a medical emergency until life-threatening cardiac issues can be ruled out.[4][9] Severe cases of costal cartilage inflammation that also involve painful swelling are sometimes referred to as Tietze's syndrome, a term sometimes used interchangeably with costochondritis; however, some physicians view costochondritis and Tietze's syndrome as separate disease states due to the absence of costal cartilage swelling in costochondritis.