Not Medical Advice: This area holds organs with close proximity to each other, so you should not be looking at just one specific organ.
Pancreas - located across the back of the abdomen, behind the stomach.
Can cause acute pain below the sternum (breastbone) when its enzymes are abnormally activated due to some factors like alcohol abuse or blockage of its ducts. Injury, certain medications, certain diseases, and high blood levels of triglycerides and fats can also lead to acute pancreatitis. Symptoms include severe upper abdominal pain, which radiates to the back and worsens when lying down, indigestion, clay-colored stools and abdominal swelling. - www.just-health.net
Liver - located under the diaphragm, slightly to the right side of the body.
Liver pain is felt in the upper-right quadrant beneath your rib cage. It is usually felt as an ache that is dull, or the pains can be sharp and can sometimes be accompanied by back/shoulder pain.
Causes of liver pain: Acetaminophen toxicity, alcoholic liver disease, primary liver cancer, liver cirrhosis, liver cysts, liver fibrosis, hepatitis, see other causes at www.newhealthguide.org.
Gallbladder - sits just under the liver; connected to the liver via ducts that supply bile to the gallbladder for storage.
Most problems occur as a result of the presence of gallstones (cholelithiasis). These are small stones which form when cholesterol, one of the ingredients of bile, hardens into a crystal-type material. While usually harmless, gallstones can be painful and cause nausea. If the gallbladder becomes inflamed (due to gallstones), you may develop severe pain and fever (cholecystitis) - www.womens-health-advice.com
A pain which is usually sharp and located on the front chest wall that may radiate to the back or abdomen to cause back pain or belly pain, can be caused by costochondritis.
Costochondritis is the medical term for inflammation of the cartilage that joins your ribs to your breastbone (sternum). Pain caused by costochondritis might mimic that of a heart attack or other heart conditions.
Get more expert advice about costochondritis from the experts at MayoClinic.org.
To find out other possible causes of pain below breastbone (under, behind sternum), go to www.healthhype.com.