Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 25, 2023

First, many on Twitter said "Pericarditis". This is NOT pericarditis, which virtually NEVER has ST depression any where except aVR. See our publication: ST depression in lead aVL differentiates inferior ST-elevation myocardial infarction from pericarditis There is STE in inferior leads, high lateral leads, and V4-V6.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2022

This is a bad ST vector orientation, because it causes widespread STE and one of the most important mistakes that needs to be avoided here is thinking of the diagnosis of pericarditis. Such an out-of-proportion STE is virtually never seen in pericarditis. 2022 Mar-Apr;71:44-46. Epub 2022 Jan 31. References Aslanger EK.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 12, 2023

Here is the South African Flag sign ( Figure by Ken Grauer — with the original 12-lead from Patient 1 attached below — See his Comment from the April 8, 2022 post in Dr. Smith's ECG Blog for more on this sign ). ECG read as: "Shows T wave inversions in the inferior leads and less than 1mm STE in V2, without STEMI criteria."

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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. Initial troponin came back negative."

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 17, 2024

The limb leads have been removed because there was no ST elevation in those leads, the QRS complexes have been obscured because this is irrelevant to STEMI criteria, and red lines have been added to measure ST segment elevation. But STEMI criteria ignore all this and look at ST segments in isolation.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Recall from this post referencing this study that "reciprocal STD in aVL is highly sensitive for inferior OMI (far better than STEMI criteria) and excludes pericarditis, but is not specific for OMI." St depression in lead AVL differentiates inferior st-elevation myocardial infarction from pericarditis. The case continues.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 17, 2022

If you were thinking that this is not anterior OMI because there is no reciprocal ST depression , it is important to remember that half of anterior STEMI do NOT have any reciprocal ST depression. Pericarditis? If you were thinking that this is pericarditis, that would be possible in the absence of any clinical information.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2022

Dyspnea, Chest pain, Tachypneic, Ill appearing: Bedside Cardiac Echo gives the Diagnosis 31 Year Old Male with RUQ Pain and a History of Pericarditis. NOTE: For more on the ECG diagnosis of acute RV "strain" ( and acute PE ) — Please check out My Comment at the bottom of the page in the March 28, 2022 post in Dr. Smith's ECG Blog.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 23, 2022

Note: according to the STEMI paradigm these ECGs are easy, but in reality they are difficult. Theres inferior STE which meets STEMI criteria, but this is in the context of tall R waves (18mm) and relatively small T waves, and the STD/TWI in aVL is concordant to the negative QRS. This was false positive STEMI with an ECG mimicking OMI.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

.: 50% of LAD STEMI have Q-waves by one hour. The exception is with postinfarction pericarditis , in which a completed transmural infarct results in inflammation of the subepicardial myocardium and STE in the distribution of the infarct, and which results in increased STE and large upright T-waves. So it is not necessarily subacute.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 21, 2023

ECG met STEMI criteria and was labeled STEMI by computer interpretation. J waves can also be induced by Occlusion MI (5), STEMI mimics including takotsubo and myocarditis complicated by ventricular arrhythmias (6, 7), and subarachnoid hemorrhage with VF (8). Take home : Not all STEs are STEMIs or OMIs. What do you think?

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