Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 24, 2019

[link] A 30 year-old woman was brought to the ED with chest pain. She had given birth a week ago, and she had similar chest pain during her labor. She attributed the chest pain to anxiety and stress, saying "I'm just an anxious person." This strongly suggests reperfusing RCA ischemia.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 6, 2019

The patient presented with chest pain. Followup ECG: No Change Absence of evolution is the best evidence against ischemia as the etiology. I was taught that the tell-tale sign of ischemia vs an electrical abnormality was in the hx, i.e. chest pain for the ischemia and potential syncope for brugada.

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Chest Pain STEMI Ischemia Myocardial Infarction 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

Case written and submitted by Ryan Barnicle MD, with edits by Pendell Meyers While vacationing on one of the islands off the northeast coast, a healthy 70ish year old male presented to the island health center for an evaluation of chest pain. The chest pain started about one hour prior to arrival while bike riding.

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Chest Pain Pulmonary ACE Inhibitor Pacemaker 52

Ken Grauer, MD

DECEMBER 15, 2023

ECG #2 was actually done first, at the time the EMS unit arrived on the scene ( at which time the patient was having severe chest pain ). ECG Blog #184 — illustrates the "magical" mirror-image opposite relationship with acute ischemia between lead III and lead aVL ( featured in Audio Pearl #2 in this blog post ).

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Blog STEMI Ischemia Chest Pain 152

Ken Grauer, MD

APRIL 5, 2024

As a result, the ST elevation ( with especially tall, peaked T wave in lead V2) — is not indication of acute ischemia. Today's patient is a middle-aged woman who presented with low back pain, shortness of breath and marked hypertension — but no chest pain.

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Blog Ischemia Chest Pain Hypertension 95

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2023

Written by Willy Frick A man in his 50s with a history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and prior inferior OMI status post DES to his proximal RCA 3 years prior presented to the emergency department at around 3 AM complaining of chest pain onset around 9 PM the evening prior. The following ECG was obtained.

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Chest Pain Myocardial Infarction Blog Stents 131

Ken Grauer, MD

JANUARY 13, 2024

My written interpretation on a tracing such as this one would read, "Marked LVH and 'strain' and/or ischemia — with need for clinical correlation." BOTTOM Line: Today's patient presented with a 2-3 day history of chest pain and the ECG shown in Figure-1. ECG Blog #276 — and ECG Blog #309 — Reviews the entity of Giant T waves.

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Blog Ischemia AFIB Hypertension 160

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 8, 2023

Edits by Meyers and Smith A man in his 70s with PMH of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes, CVA, dual-chamber Medtronic pacemaker, presented to the ED for evaluation of acute chest pain. EKG shown here: LAFB with no clear signs of OMI or ischemia. Triage ECG: What do you think? This is a huge anterolateral OMI.

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Chest Pain Myocardial Infarction STEMI Pacemaker 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 5, 2023

On the day of presentation she complained of typical chest pain, and stated it feels like prior MI. ECG#1 Assessing ischemia on an ECG with wide QRS complexes (AIVR, ventricular pacing, BBB, etc) can be challenging. Many health care providers will simply not attempt to assess ischemia in the presence of a wide QRS.

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Chest Pain Pacemaker Ischemia Stents 111

Ken Grauer, MD

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Subendocardial Ischemia from another Cause ( ie, sustained tachyarrhythmia; cardiac arrest; shock or profound hypotension; GI bleeding; anemia; "sick patient" , etc. ). To EMPHASIZE: This pattern of diffuse Subendocardial Ischemia does not suggest acute coronary occlusion ( ie, it is not the pattern of an acute MI ).

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Blog Chest Pain Ischemia STEMI 99

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 18, 2024

Written by Jesse McLaren A 70 year old with prior MIs and stents to LAD and RCA presented to the emergency department with 2 weeks of increasing exertional chest pain radiating to the left arm, associated with nausea. But no ECG met STEMI criteria so the patient was referred to cardiology as Non-STEMI.

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STEMI Chest Pain Myocardial Infarction Blog 121

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 20, 2024

He woke up alert and with chest pain which he also had experienced intermittently over the previous few days. The first task when assessing a wide complex QRS for ischemia is to identify the end of the QRS. His wife contacted the ambulance service after the patient experienced an episode of loss of consciousness.

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Cardiogenic Shock Ischemia Chest Pain Cardiac Arrest 128

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

AUGUST 3, 2018

In the evening, a middle-aged man complained of chest pain at the nursing home. His chest pain was vague. He mentioned "cancer" and "chest". Nurses found him with a BP of 50/30 and heart rate of 130 and called EMS. He was awake, with a pulse of 130 and BP of 50/30. Fluids were started.

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Chest Pain Tachycardia Atrial Flutter Ultrasound 40

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 27, 2025

After only 90 minutes of chest pain, the first troponin was unsurprisingly in the normal range at 11ng/L (normal <26 in males and <16 in females), so the emergency physician waited for repeat troponin. But it was interpreted as no acute ischemia and the patient was referred to cardiology as Non-STEMI. Cardiology aware.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 13, 2020

A 60-something man presented by EMS with 5 hours of fairly typical sounding substernal chest pain. Here is the EMS ECG: Obviously massive diffuse subendocardial ischemia, with profound STD and STE in aVR Of course this pattern is most often seen from etoliogies other than ACS.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 22, 2023

He denied chest pain or shortness of breath. In the clinical context of weakness and fever, without chest pain or shortness of breath, the likelihood of Brugada pattern is obviously much higher. Written by Pendell Meyers A man in his 70s with no cardiac history presented with acute weakness, syncope, and fever.

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Chest Pain Heart Rhythm Sudden Cardiac Death Dysrhythmia 92

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 14, 2018

(In other words, the artery was occluded but has sponteneously reperfused, resulting in pain relief) It is important to monitor patients with Wellens' syndrome for re-occlusion, which is usually, but not always, associated with recurrent chest pain. The patient remained pain free. Learning Points: 1.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 3, 2024

When I was shown this ECG, I said it looks like such widespread ischemia that is might be a left main occlusion, or LM ischemia plus circumflex occlusion (high lateral and posterior OMI). Here are some cases of RBBB with LAFB: What is the Diagnosis in this 70-something with Chest Pain? There is STE in aVR.

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Cardiogenic Shock Cardiac Arrest Hospital Ischemia 127

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 19, 2018

A middle-aged woman had an acute onset of chest pain and dyspnea. The pain had almost resolved by the time an ECG was obtained in the ED: Here is the computer diagnosis What do you think? This confirms that there were dynamic signs of ischemia on the initial ECG. The ST depression in aVL is also resolved.

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DAIC

JANUARY 3, 2024

Traditional methods of non-invasive ischemia testing (stress EKG , stress echo, SPECT , PET , direct-to-cath) can result in false negatives 20-30 percent of the time, which can lead to undetected disease, and false positives over 50 percent of the time, which can lead to unnecessary invasive procedures. Neth Heart J 2018. Patel et al.

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Coronary Artery Disease Chest Pain Plaque Technology 59

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 29, 2018

Written by Pendell Meyers A male in his 50s with history of HTN, DM, HLD presented with chest pain of less than one hour duration. Here is a repeat ECG 45 minutes later with persistent chest pain: Obviously progressing into a clear STEMI. Here is his triage ECG: What do you think? The ECG was interpreted as non-ischemic.

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Chest Pain STEMI Diabetes Hypertension 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

The best course is to wait until the anatomy is defined by angio, then if proceeding to PCI, add Cangrelor (an IV P2Y12 inhibitor) I sent the ECG and clinical information of a 90-year old with chest pain to Dr. McLaren. His response: “subendocardial ischemia. Anything more on history? J Electrocardiol 2013;46:240-8 2.

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Ischemia STEMI Stenosis Chest Pain 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 16, 2024

This is the prehospital ECG from an 81 year old man with acute chest pain. The PEARL is that recognition of a longer-than-expected P wave in a supraventricular tachycardia should bring to mind the “Bix Rule” ( See My Comment at the bottom of the page in the August 3, 2018 post in Dr. Smith's ECG Blog ). Would you give lytics?

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Atrial Flutter Chest Pain Tachycardia Arrhythmia 59

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 6, 2019

A middle-aged woman with history of hypertension presented to another hospital approximately 2 hours after onset of chest pain and shortness of breath. Back to the case: The providers recognized persistent ischemia and likely occlusion, and discussed this with cardiology who took the patient immediately for cath. They opened it.

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STEMI Chest Pain Ischemia Myocardial Infarction 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 11, 2018

A 40-something woman had sudden chest pain. Comment by KEN GRAUER, MD ( 7/11/2018 ): = Insightful blog post by Dr. Smith regarding ECG criteria for recognizing acute RV involvement in patients with inferior STEMI. See P.S. below ) == P.S. : I believe I found another example of ischemia-induced J waves ( See Oct.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

FEBRUARY 6, 2024

Chest trauma was suspected on initial exam. The ECG shows sinus tachycardia with RBBB and LAFB, without clear additional superimposed signs of ischemia. Gunshot wound to the chest with ST Elevation Would your radiologist make this diagnosis, or should you record an ECG in trauma? ST depression. Myocardial Contusion?

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Tachycardia Dysrhythmia Atrial Fibrillation Bradycardia 115

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

No chest pain. Normally, concavity in ST segments suggests absence of anterior ischemia (though concavity by itself is not reassuring - see this study ). Later on during the night of his admission he had a short episode of chest pain that resolved with sublingual nitroglycerin. His vitals were initially normal.

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Chest Pain Myocardial Infarction Cardiac Arrest Ischemia 52

Dr. Paddy Barrett

AUGUST 1, 2023

Share Chest Pain Symptoms There is no role for CT Calcium Scoring in the setting of someone with chest pain symptoms suspected to be from a narrowed coronary artery. Regardless, if you present with chest pain and get a stress test instead of a CTCA, you are arguably getting an inferior test. I would say yes.

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Coronary Angiogram Plaque Coronary Artery Disease Chest Pain 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

If it is a chest pain patient, I would get a formal echo and serial ECGs. There were no others: Notice the similarities to the ECG above, confirming that they are baseline Then he sent the clinical history, which was of a malfunctioning ICD, but without any chest pain or SOB. And look for an old EKG."

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Chest Pain Exercise Myocardial Infarction Blog 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 31, 2018

About this time, the 4th troponin, drawn at 8 hours after onset of pain, peaked at 20.956 ng/mL. Now you have ECG and troponin evidence of ischemia, AND ventricular dysrhythmia, which means this is NOT a stable ACS. It they are static, then they are not due to ischemia. Again, cath lab was not activated. Circ Cardiovasc Interv.

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SCAD Chest Pain Myocardial Infarction Ischemia 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 3, 2018

Case An elderly patient had acute chest pain and 911 was called. Here is our abstract from SAEM 2018. And, in cases like the elderly patient with new-onset chest pain presented here — definitive diagnosis of acute STEMI is sometimes deceptively easy. What do you think?

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Chest Pain Myocardial Infarction STEMI Ischemia 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

Written by Pendell Meyers, edits by Steve Smith A man in his 60s with history of hypertension and MI 10 years ago, with PCI, presented to an outside hospital complaining of chest pain that started while mowing the lawn. TOP Initial ECG of this 60-year old man with a history of prior MI, who presented with new-onset chest pain.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 3, 2017

Am J Cardiol 2018; 122(8):1303-1309. This is the initial ED ECG of a 46 year old male with chest pain: The QTc was 420 ST Elevation at 60 ms after the J-point in lead V3 = 2.5 ng/ml) A 45 year old male called 911 for chest pain: The QTc was 400 ST Elevation at 60 ms after the J-point in lead V3 = 3.5 QRS V2 = 15.5

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Chest Pain STEMI Bradycardia Stenosis 52

Ken Grauer, MD

JUNE 6, 2023

Part of the ST depression with deep T wave inversion in the lateral chest leads clearly reflects LV "strain" from the marked LVH — but despite the very large QRS amplitudes, this ST-T wave appearance looks disproportionate, suggesting at least a component of ischemia. E CG F indings in Today's Tracing N ow M ake S ense !

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 20, 2018

A 40 something woman with a history of hyperlipidemia and additional risk factors including a smoking history presented with substernal chest pain radiating to "both axilla" as well as the upper back. She was reportedly "pacing in her room while holding her chest". Journal of Electrocardiology 2018. TnI peaked at 67.10

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Pericarditis Chest Pain Blog Ultrasound 52

Dr. Paddy Barrett

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Ischemia Trial In an attempt to clarify this question, a similar trial was done called the Ischemia Trial, which had important differences to the Courage trial but again tried to answer a similar question 3. But what about those with symptoms such as chest pain or shortness of breath as a result of their coronary artery disease?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 5, 2022

He denied any chest pain or shortness of breath and stated he felt at his baseline yesterday prior to drug use. They recommended repeating his ECG and awaiting troponin since the patient did not have any chest pain. 72; Issue 9; 2018. He complained of generalized weakness and left lower extremity numbness.

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