Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 20, 2024

Written by Pendell Meyers A man in his late 30s with history of hypertension, tobacco use, and obesity presented to the Emergency Department for acute chest pain which started approximately 3 hours prior to arrival, in the setting of a very stressful situation. The pain radiated down both arms, 10/10 in severity.

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Chest Pain STEMI Hypertension Blog 121

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 14, 2024

Written by Jesse McLaren Three patients presented with acute chest pain and ECGs that were labeled by the computer as completely normal, and which was confirmed by the final cardiology interpretation (which is blinded to patient outcome) also as completely normal. What do you think?

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Chest Pain STEMI Outcomes Electrocardiogram 119

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

AUGUST 6, 2024

Written by Magnus Nossen with Edits by Grauer and Smith The ECGs in today’s case are from 3 different patients all presenting with new-onset CP ( Chest Pain ). Despite active CP — cath lab activation was deferred and this patient was transported to a local hospital without PCI capability. The ECG shows ST depression in lead V3.

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Chest Pain Ischemia Pericarditis Tachycardia 104

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 23, 2024

I was working at triage when the medics brought this patient who is 65 yo and has had chest pain for 12 hours. The pain had been intermittent until an hour before arrival, when he called 911. Another ECG was recorded while awaiting the cath team: Now there is STEMI Let's look at that first (prehospital ECG) again: Very subtle!

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Chest Pain Critical Care STEMI Stents 115

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 17, 2024

Written by Jesse McLaren Two patients in their 70s presented to the ED with chest pain and RBBB. Patient 1 : a 75 year old called paramedics with one day of left shoulder pain which migrated to the central chest, which was worse with deep breaths. Do either, both, or neither have occlusion MI? Vitals were normal.

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Chest Pain STEMI Pulmonary Embolism 73

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 8, 2024

Let me tell you about her hospitalization, discharged 1 day prior, but it was at another hospital (I wish I had the ECG from that hospitalization): The patient is 40 years old and presented to another hospital with chest pain and SOB. Probably because of a high troponin with chest pain.

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Chest Pain Pulmonary Embolism STEMI 71

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 20, 2024

A 63 year old man with a history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, prediabetes, and a family history of CAD developed chest pain, shortness of breath, and diaphoresis after consuming a large meal at noon. He called EMS, who arrived on scene about two hours after the onset of pain to find him hypertensive at 220 systolic.

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Chest Pain Blood Pressure Ischemia STEMI 126

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

FEBRUARY 4, 2023

There were no injuries and no chest pain and he appeared well. He complained of 3 days of diarrhea and abdominal pain. Jason was very skeptical of STEMI. This also argues against STEMI. Look for old ECGs Do serial ECGs Do echocardiography June 17, 2016 Anterior STEMI? There was no chest pain.

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Chest Pain STEMI Hospital Blog 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 26, 2015

52-year-old lady presents to the Emergency Department with 2 hours of chest pain, palpitations & SOB. These elevations meet STEMI criteria ( ≥ 1mm in 2 contiguous leads). In STEMI, they are generally upright and large in proportion to the QRS. So this argues against acute STEMI.

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Chest Pain Aneurysm STEMI Document 52

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).

STEMI 52

STEMI Hospital Chest Pain Myocardial Infarction 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

FEBRUARY 6, 2023

Sent by anonymous, written by Pendell Meyers A man in his 60s presented with acute chest pain with diaphoresis. Admitted to the hospital service for further evaluation and management." The Importance of the History: As noted above — the onset of chest pain in today's case was acute.

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Chest Pain Physiology Blog Stents 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 17, 2024

Written by Bobby Nicholson, MD 67 year old male with history of hypertension and hyperlipidemia presented to the Emergency Department via ambulance with midsternal nonradiating chest pain and dyspnea on exertion. Pain improved to 1/10 after EMS administers 324 mg aspirin and the following EKG is obtained at triage.

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Chest Pain Embolism Pulmonary Tachycardia 139

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

AUGUST 19, 2023

This is diagnostic of infero-posterior OMI, but it is falsely negative by STEMI criteria and with falsely negative posterior leads (though they do show mild ST elevation in V4R). Because the patient had no chest pain or shortness of breath, they were initially diagnosed as gastroenteritis. Potassium was normal. Take home 1.

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Chest Pain STEMI Myocardial Infarction Blog 98

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Sent by Drew Williams, written by Pendell Meyers A man in his 50s with history of hypertension was standing at the bus stop when he developed sudden onset severe pressure-like chest pain radiating to his neck and right arm, associated with dyspnea, diaphoresis, and presyncope. When is it anterior STEMI? Is this Acute Ischemia?

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Chest Pain STEMI Blog Stenosis 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 14, 2016

A middle aged male presented at midnight after 14 hours of constant, severe substernal chest pain, radiating to his throat and to bilateral jaws, and associated with diaphoresis. The pain was not positional, pleuritic, or reproducible. The "criteria" for posterior STEMI are 0.5 Is it STEMI or NonSTEMI?

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Chest Pain STEMI Aortic Myocardial Infarction 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 21, 2023

Written by Jesse McLaren, with comments from Smith A 50-year old patient on the medical wards developed acute chest pain, with an ECG labeled (see computer interpretation at the top) and confirmed as normal. In the STEMI paradigm, patients with ischemic symptoms and ECGs that don’t meet STEMI criteria get serial ECGs.

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Chest Pain STEMI Cancer Hemorrhage 52

Ken Grauer, MD

AUGUST 26, 2023

These tall T waves are associated with flattening ( straightening ) of the ST segment in the inferior leads — with slight S T elevation in leads V2-thru-V6 ( albeit not enough to qualify as a "STEMI" — Akbar et al, StatPearls, 2023 ). About 20 minutes later ( on the way to the hospital ) — the patient's CP resolved, and ECG #1 was recorded.

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Blog Chest Pain STEMI Ischemia 145

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 15, 2023

Written by Pendell Meyers Both of these cases were sent to me with no information other than adults with acute chest pain. Case 1 An elderly male presented with chest pain. Case 2 A man in his 60s presented with acute chest pain, about 1 hour prior to evaluation: What do you think? We will study this soon.

STEMI 98

STEMI Chest Pain Stenosis Outcomes 98

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 9, 2023

No prior exertional complaints of chest pain, dizziness, lightheadedness, or undue shortness of breath. He denied headache or neck pain associated with exertion. 50% of LAD STEMIs do not have reciprocal findings in inferior leads, and many LAD OMIs instead have STE and/or HATWs in inferior leads instead. Pericarditis?

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Chest Pain Aneurysm STEMI Thrombosis 52

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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Chest Pain STEMI Aneurysm Pericarditis 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 8, 2022

There is clearly sufficient STE for STEMI criteria in leads V2 and aVL, but lead I has less than 1.0 mm of STE - thus, technically this ECG does not meet STEMI criteria, although it is a quite obvious OMI. This ECG was immediatel y discussed with the on-call cardiologist who said the ECG was "concerning but not a STEMI."

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Chest Pain SCAD STEMI Blog 52

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. Instead, he left the hospital — only to be found dead at home 36 hours later.

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Blog Chest Pain STEMI Ischemia 163

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

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 10, 2017

This was sent to me by a former resident from a community hospital: A middle-aged woman complained of chest pain and was seen in triage. She had a ECG recorded. The computer interpreted the ECG (GE Marquette 12 SL) as: "Sinus Bradycardia. Normal ECG." It was not seen by a physician. And the computer will not help you.

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Chest Pain Bradycardia Technology Electrocardiogram 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 17, 2016

There were no injuries and no chest pain and he appeared well. He complained of 3 days of diarrhea and abdominal pain. Jason was very skeptical of STEMI. This also argues against STEMI. There was no chest pain. He had a seizure this morning and rolled out of bed unable to get up. What do you think?

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STEMI Chest Pain Hospital Blog 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 23, 2023

Submitted and written by Megan Lieb, DO with edits by Bracey, Smith, Meyers, and Grauer A 50-ish year old man with ICD presented to the emergency department with substernal chest pain for 3 hours prior to arrival. At this time he reported ongoing chest pain and was given aspirin and nitroglycerin.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Blog Stenosis Myocardial Infarction 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

She presented to an outside hospital after several days of malaise and feeling unwell. It has been estimated that in the aggregate, they occur at a rate of about 3 per 1000 patients with acute MI, and most of these events occur in patients with STEMI. Not all patients with acute ( or recent ) MI have chest pain with their event.

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Cardiogenic Shock Chest Pain Pericarditis Myocardial Infarction 109

Open Heart

JANUARY 30, 2024

Background Patients who experience in-hospital ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (iSTEMI) represent a uniquely high-risk cohort owing to delays in diagnosis, prolonged time to reperfusion and increased mortality. Statistically insignificant numerical reductions were observed post-CSP in in-hospital mortality (18.2%

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STEMI Hospital Chest Pain Outcomes 52

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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Chest Pain STEMI Blog Myocardial Infarction 52

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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Chest Pain STEMI Blog Academic 52

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. Backus BE, Six AJ, Kelder JC, et al.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Ischemia Myocardial Infarction Angina 52

Ken Grauer, MD

OCTOBER 25, 2024

The following are the KEY clinical and ECG features that establish the diagnosis of W ellens ' S yndrome : There should be a history of prior chest pain that has resolved at the time the defining ECG is obtained. The Chest Pain required for the definition of Wellens' Syndrome occurred at the time of coronary occlusion.

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Blog Chest Pain STEMI Cardiogenic Shock 94

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 18, 2011

This is a 45 yo male who had an inferior STEMI 6 months prior, was found to have severe LAD and left main disease, and was supposed to be set up for CABG a few weeks later, but did not follow up. 3 hours prior to calling 911 he developed typical chest pain. But it could be anterior STEMI. is likely anterior STEMI).

STEMI 52

STEMI Pericarditis Hospital Aneurysm 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 14, 2017

This case was sent by Dr Avinash Krishnamurthy, a fine emergency medicine resident from Australia Cairns base hospital Case : An adolescent male had a mechanical fall and injured his left shoulder and arm. There was apparently no syncope and he had no bony injuries, but he did complain of left sided chest pain. Is there STEMI?

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Chest Pain Congenital Heart Disease Article Congenital 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 6, 2024

This patient had the onset of chest pain 24 hours before arrival to the ED. An ECG was recorded immediately at triage and, at this hospital, the Queen of Hearts is routinely used to determine cath lab activation. The Non-STEMI, which was an OMI, was diagnosed much faster with AI on the ECG than with troponin.

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Hospital Chest Pain Blog Pulmonary 77

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 ). About 20 minutes later ( on the way to the hospital ) — the patient's CP resolved, and ECG #1 was recorded. Figure-2: Comparison between the 2 ECGs recorded in today's case.

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Blog STEMI Ischemia Chest Pain 151

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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Chest Pain Exercise Pacemaker Coronary Angiogram 52