Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024

A healthy 45-year-old female presented with chest pain, with normal vitals. The patient was previously healthy, with no atherosclerotic risk factors, and developed chest pain after an episode of stress. The pain was crushing retrosternal, radiated to the arms and was associated with lightheadedness.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 19, 2024

Case An 82 year old man with a history of hypertension presented to the ED with chest pain at 1211. He described his chest pain as pleuritic and reported that it started the day prior while swinging a golf club. His pain suddenly became much worse in the ED and he became acutely diaphoretic, dizzy, and hypotensive.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 9, 2023

Sent by anonymous, written by Pendell Meyers A man in his 50s with no prior known medical history presented to the Emergency Department with severe intermittent chest pain. He denied any lightheadedness, shortness of breath, vomiting, or abdominal pain. Barely any STE, and thus not meeting STEMI criteria.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 11, 2019

male was sitting at a work conference when he began having substernal chest pain with diaphoresis. The pain was 7 out of 10 when this ECG was recorded: The QTc = 375 What do you think? Since the threshold for "STEMI" is 2.0 mm, this ECG actually meets STEMI criteria. Since the threshold for "STEMI" is 2.0

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 8, 2019

A previously healthy middle-aged male presented shortly after the acute onset of chest pain very shortly before calling 911. On arrival, he was pain free: What do you think? Jerry Jones commented: "Any ST depression on the ECG of a patient with chest pain credible for ACS represents a reciprocal change until proved otherwise."

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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." examined SCAD presenting as STEMI (unlike Hassan et al.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 25, 2023

Healthy male under 25 years old with a pretty good story for acute onset crushing chest pain relieved with nitro. Smith and Meyers to diagnose both obvious (STEMI) and subtle OMI. But the stuttering pain and sudden onset suggest acute coronary occlusion (Occlusion MI, or OMI). No pericardial effusion on ultrasound."

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 6, 2019

The patient presented with chest pain. If it is STEMI, it would have to be RBBB with STEMI. 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. This ECG was sent from South Asia.

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Ken Grauer, MD

DECEMBER 8, 2023

For full discussion of this case — See ECG Blog #292 — == The 2 ECGs shown in Figure-1 were obtained from a man in his 30s — who presented to the ED ( E mergency D epartment ) with chest pain that began several hours earlier. ECG #2 was recorded 1 hour after ECG #1. Initial troponin was negative.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 19, 2019

Written by Pendell Meyers, with edits by Steve Smith A man in his early 40s with history of MI s/p PCI presented with bilateral anterior chest pain described as burning and belching with no radiation since last night starting around 11pm (roughly 11 hours ago). But it does not meet STEMI criteria and it was not initially recognized.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

AUGUST 17, 2019

Chris Mondie of the Newark Beth Israel Emergency Medicine Residency sent this case A 50-something man presented with acute chest pain. So there is definitely no STEMI, and the STE is normal. But after reading this blog, you all know that most OMI do NOT meet STEMI criteria. mm in men over age 40.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 11, 2019

Written and submitted by Ashley Mogul, with edits by Pendell Meyers and Steve Smith A man in his 40s with recent smoking cessation but otherwise no known past medical history presented due to chest pain since the previous evening. The pain has been constant and associated with vomiting and diaphoresis.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 16, 2023

Sent by Dan Singer MD, written by Meyers, edits by Smith A man in his late 30s presented with acute chest pain and normal vitals except tachycardia at about 115 bpm. Dr. Singer sent this to me with just the information: "~40 year old with acute chest pain". Anxiety is a common cause of chest pain with tachycardia.

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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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Ken Grauer, MD

FEBRUARY 3, 2024

Despite the absence of significant coronary stenosis on her post-arrest cath — the ECG in Figure-1 is clearly diagnostic of an extensive anterolateral STEMI ( presumably from acute LAD [ L eft A nterior D escending ] coronary artery occlusion). The rhythm in ECG #1 is regular and supraventricular at a rate of ~75/minute. What is M INOCA?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

== MY Comment by K EN G RAUER, MD ( 9/17/2020 ): == Todays patient is a previously healthy, 60-something year-old woman who presented with chest pain that began at a reception. We are indebted to Dr. Smith for developing Modified Smith-Sgarbossa Criteria for assessing ST-T wave changes in chest pain patients with LBBB.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 31, 2023

It is from a 50-something with chest pain: What do you think? This was marked as "Not a STEMI" by the physicians. It is not a STEMI, but it is diagnostic of an LAD OMI (Occlusion MI). has outperformed many cardiologists in its ability to recognize with "high confidence" acute OMIs from ECGs not satisfying STEMI-criteria.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 22, 2022

Written by Jesse McLaren, with comments from Smith and Grauer A 60 year old presented with three weeks of intermittent non-exertional chest pain without associated symptoms. A prospective validation of the HEART score for chest pain patients at the emergency department. JAMA Intern Med 2019 9. Int J Cardiol 2013 2.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

Discharge Diagnosis was STEMI (The STE did not meet "criteria," so "OMI" would be better, but "STEMI" is far better than what this could have been called: NonSTEMI) Quotes from a note written by a really fine and knowledgable physician: "12-lead EKG was obtained initial 1 at time zero. Chest pain is squeezing or tight in nature.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 22, 2019

He then went on to say: "40-something with chest pain for one hour. Burning pain subxiphoid and into throat." Still does not meet STEMI criteria, but it is an obvious OMI And then another one became more obvious: Cath lab was activated and a 100% RCA occlusion was found. Sounds like reflux, right? Learning Points: 1.

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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 ). The importance of the new OMI ( vs the old STEMI ) Paradigm — See My Comment in the July 31, 2020 post in Dr. Smith's ECG Blog.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 31, 2020

Their OMI Manifesto details how use of standard STEMI criteria results in an unacceptable level of inaccuracy, in which an estimated 25-30% of acute coronary occlusions are missed! The article by Aslanger, Smith et al that is featured above in today’s post has just been published.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 2, 2019

Written by Pendell Meyers I received this prehospital ECG (we receive prehospital ECGs by telemetry from EMS in a large area around our hospital) and was told that there was a patient in her 50s with chest pain who was headed to an outside hospital (which happens to be a catheterization center). Here is the ECG: What do you think?

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Ken Grauer, MD

JUNE 14, 2024

Prompt cath is therefore advised if the post-ROSC shows an acute STEMI. I i llustrate the ECG finding of T-QRS-D below in Figure-3 , which I've excerpted from My Comment in the November 14, 2019 post in Dr. Smith's ECG Blog. To Emphasize: The phenomenon of T-QRS-D is not needed in today's case to recognize the acute STEMI.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 19, 2022

Written by Pendell Meyers, edits by Smith and Grauer A man in his late 20s with history of asthma presented to the ED with a transient episode of chest pain and shortness of breath after finishing a 4-mile run. His symptoms of chest pain and shortness of breath were attributed to an asthma exacerbation during exercise.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

FEBRUARY 16, 2019

Written by Pendell Meyers, few edits by Smith A man in his 60s with history of stroke and hypertension but no known heart disease presented with chest pain that started on the morning of presentation at around 8am. So it is very unclear to me whether or not "posterior STEMI" is actually a recognized entity under our current guidelines.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 4, 2024

Algorithm: Veritas (on Mortara machines) The Queen gets it right Case 2 A middle-aged woman with chest pain and a "normal" ECG in triage. Unknown algorithm The Queen gets it right Case 4 How unreliable are computer algorithms in the Diagnosis of STEMI? Pain was resolving. The OMI was not seen and she arrested in triage.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

AUGUST 15, 2019

Written by Pendell Meyers A male in his early 50s presented with waxing and waning chest pain starting at rest. Over the next few hours, four other general cardiologists "signed off on the initial ECG without recognizing STEMI." Learning Points: STEMI criteria misses 25-40% of OMI, like this case for example.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 15, 2024

A prehospital “STEMI” activation was called on a 75 year old male ( Patient 1 ) with a history of hyperlipidemia and LAD and Cx OMI with stent placement. He arrived to the ED by helicopter at 1507, about three hours after the start of his chest pain while chopping wood around noon. He wrote most of it and I (Smith) edited.

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Open Heart

JANUARY 30, 2024

Methods This study included consecutive patients with iSTEMI treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) between 1 January 2011 and 15 July 2019 at a single, tertiary referral centre.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

AUGUST 2, 2024

Written by Willy Frick A 50 year old man with no medical history presented with acute onset substernal chest pain. This was a machine read STEMI positive OMI. We've highlighted a considerable number of acute RV MI cases in Dr. Smith's ECG Blog ( See the October 7, 2019 and May 10, 2024 posts , to name just two ).

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 27, 2024

COACT: The COACT trial was fatally flawed, and because of it, many cardiologists are convinced that if there are no STEMI criteria, the patient does not need to go to the cath lab. N Engl J Med [Internet] 2019;Available from: [link] Should all patients with shockable arrest be taken to angiography regardless of STEMI or No STEMI?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 10, 2020

He presented to the ED because he developed sudden severe, sharp, pleuritic (but not positional), substernal and left mid to lower chest pain. Another similar case: Teenager with chest pain and slightly elevated troponin. 13, 2019 Dr. Smith post. 27, 2019 Dr. Smith post. What happens then? Pericarditis?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2024

Written by Pendell Meyers A man in his early sixties with no significant medical history (including a "negative cardiac workup a few years ago" for unclear indication) called 911 for acute chest pain constantly for the past 5 hours. However, this patient has active chest pain, and thus this this is inferior-posterior OMI.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Are Some Cardiologists Really Limited by Strict Adherence to STEMI millimeter criteria? This is the response he got: Interventionist: "No STEMI, no cath. After stabilizing the patient and recording more ECGs, he tried again: Interventionalist: "It isn't a STEMI." It is a STEMI equivalent. We don't know how many though.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 20, 2019

Written by Pendell Meyers An elderly woman presented with acute onset chest pain and shortness of breath. There is sinus rhythm with minimal STE in V1-V3, not meeting STEMI criteria. The delay between OMI and STEMI sometimes causes unacceptable loss of myocardium or worse.

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Ken Grauer, MD

OCTOBER 29, 2023

Of note — the patient reported a reduction in chest pain severity around the time ECG #2 was recorded. Figure-4: ECG findings to look for when your patient with new-onset cardiac symptoms does not manifest STEMI-criteria ST elevation on ECG.

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