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.

Chest Pain 139

Chest Pain Embolism Pulmonary Tachycardia 139

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 17, 2018

A middle-aged patient with lung cancer had presented to clinic complaining of generalized malaise, cough, and chest pain. Symptoms other than chest pain (malaise, cough in a cancer patient) 2. Inclusion criteria were chest pain, at least 2 serial cTnI in 24 hours, sinus rhythm , and at least 1 ECG.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Pericarditis Tachycardia Myocardial Infarction 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 30, 2023

A 50-something man presented in shock with severe chest pain. Case continued A bedside ultrasound showed diminished LV EF and of course bradycardia. His prehospital ECG was diagnostic of inferior posterior OMI. The patient was in clinical shock with a lactate of 8. He appeared gray in color, with cool skin.

Chest Pain 97

Chest Pain Myocardial Infarction STEMI Cardiogenic Shock 97

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 6, 2023

Submitted and written by Anonymous, edits by Meyers and Smith A 50s-year-old patient with no known cardiac history presented at 0045 with three hours of unrelenting central chest pain. The pain was heavy, radiated to her jaw with an associated headache. Triage VS: 135/65 mmHg, 95 bpm, 94% on room air, 16/min, 98.6 Abstract 556.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Ischemia Myocardial Infarction ICU 52

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. No pericardial effusion on ultrasound." PEARL: Most patients who present with new chest pain + ECG changes + positive troponin — will not need Cardiac MRI. What do you think?

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Pericarditis Blog Cardiomyopathy 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 15, 2024

They had difficulty describing their symptoms, but complained of severe weakness, nausea, vomiting, headache, and chest pain. They described the chest pain as severe, crushing, and non-radiating. Altogether, this strongly suggests inferolateral OMI, particularly in a patient with acute chest pain.

Chest Pain 64

Chest Pain Blog Arrhythmia Critical Care 64

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." Type 2 is more difficult to appreciate on angiography than type 1.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain SCAD STEMI Cardiogenic Shock 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 15, 2021

An 80-something year old man with history of metastatic cancer had acute onset of chest pain and called 911. There is no typical evolution of MI (so BOTH EKG evolution, and troponin, proves there was no acute MI) 2 weeks later, the patient present with acute chest pain again. He ruled out for MI by troponins again.

Chest Pain 40

Chest Pain Ultrasound Pericarditis STEMI 40

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. I sent this ECG to Dr. Smith, with the only information that it is a 17 year old with chest pain. 24 yo woman with chest pain: Is this STEMI?

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Aneurysm STEMI Thrombosis 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. J Am Heart Assoc.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Blog Stenosis Myocardial Infarction 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 18, 2022

Submitted and written by Quinton Nannet, MD, peer reviewed by Meyers, Grauer, Smith A woman in her 70s recently diagnosed with COVID was brought in by EMS after she experienced acute onset sharp midsternal chest pain without radiation or dyspnea. Bedside ultrasound is another very important piece. Do you activate the Cath Lab?

Chest Pain 40

Chest Pain Ischemia Aortic Aortic valve 40

Heart BMJ

JANUARY 29, 2024

Clinical introduction Vignette A man in his 40s presented to our emergency department with sudden onset of severe central chest pain radiating to his left arm. Intravascular ultrasound was also performed ( figure 1B ). He was sweaty, clammy and had accompanying breathlessness. There was no antecedent angina. fig loc="float".

Chest Pain 40

Chest Pain Angina Ultrasound Plaque 40

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.

Chest Pain 126

Chest Pain Blood Pressure Ischemia STEMI 126

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 14, 2017

There was apparently no syncope and he had no bony injuries, but he did complain of left sided chest pain. His chest was tender. A bedside cardiac ultrasound was normal. An ECG was recorded: Avinash was understandably confused by this ECG. He wrote: "ECG 1 - shows wide ???IVCD IVCD type rhythm ??

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Congenital Heart Disease Article Congenital 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Submitted by Benjamin Garbus, MD with edits by Bracey, Meyers, and Smith A man in his early 30s presented to the ED with chest pain described as an “explosion" of left chest pressure. Today’s pain lasted around 20 mins, but was severe enough that the patient called EMS. Triage EKG: What do you think?

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Ultrasound STEMI Myocardial Infarction 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 26, 2024

A 30-something woman with chest pain and h/o pulmonary hypertension due to chronic pulmonary emboli A 30-something with 8 hours of chest pain and an elevated troponin Syncope, Shock, AV block, Large RV, "Anterior" ST Elevation. Chest pain, SOB, Precordial T-wave inversions, and positive troponin.

Chest Pain 69

Chest Pain Embolism Pulmonary Ischemia 69

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. Here is the parasternal short axis, performed by a real expert in emergency department point of care cardiac ultrasound: There does not appear to be an anterior wall motion abnormality.

Chest Pain 40

Chest Pain Pericarditis Ultrasound Download 40

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 21, 2011

He complained of chest pain. The physician (one of our fine EM residents) caring for the patient did an immediate bedside ultrasound. This 74 yo male had just returned to his unit bed after successful PTCA of tight lesions of the first diagonal and obtuse marginal coronaries. This ECG was recorded. The previous is below.

STEMI 40

STEMI Ultrasound Chest Pain 40

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". Here was his prehospital ECG, which I viewed immediately while the resident performed cardiac ultrasound: What do you think? Fluids were started. Is is sinus?

Chest Pain 40

Chest Pain Tachycardia Atrial Flutter Ultrasound 40

Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

OCTOBER 14, 2024

This paper reports a case of an elderly female patient who experienced severe chest pain and syncope during acupuncture therapy, subsequently diagnosed with traumatic hemopericardium and acute cardiac tamponade, complicated by cardiogenic shock. Under ultrasound guidance, pericardial puncture and drainage were successfully performed.

Cardiogenic Shock 52

Cardiogenic Shock Chest Pain Ultrasound Hemorrhage 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 13, 2024

Chest Pain – Benign Early Repol or OMI? Written by Destiny Folk, MD, Adam Engberg, MD, and Vitaliy Belyshev MD A man in his early 60s with a past medical history of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and hyperlipidemia presented to the emergency department for evaluation of chest pain.

Chest Pain 120

Chest Pain STEMI Ultrasound Heart Attack 120

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 18, 2024

He was given aspirin and sublingual nitro and the pain resolved. Bedside cardiac ultrasound with no obvious wall motion abnormalities. Another ECG was recorded after the nitroglycerine and now without pain: All findings are resolved. He had a previous ECG on file: Proving the findings are new The cath lab was activated.

Ischemia 122

Ischemia Plaque Stenosis Myocardial Infarction 122

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

Answer : Bedside ultrasound! Smith : RV infarct may also have this appearance on ultrasound. So hypoxia without B lines on lung ultrasound strongly weights toward PE. But the History in today's case was acute shortness of breath with dizziness and lightheadedness — and, essentially without chest pain!

Cardiogenic Shock 128

Cardiogenic Shock Ultrasound Tachycardia Pulmonary 128

DAIC

APRIL 1, 2024

Most cases go undiagnosed until the condition advances enough to create symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain or fatigue. AI algorithms could further improve care by using data from ultrasounds and other imaging devices to develop a digital twin of each patient.

Technology 105

Technology Heart Disease Innovation Ultrasound 105

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

What I had not told him before he made that judgement is that the patient also had ultrasound B-lines of pulmonary edema. Finally, the presentation is dyspnea, not chest pain. What do you think? Ken (below) is appropriately worried about pulmonary embolism from the ECG. Here is my interpretation: There is sinus rhythm with RBBB.

Aneurysm 124

Aneurysm Stents Stent Chest Pain 124

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 24, 2013

There is no way to tell the difference between GI etiology of chest pain and MI. Such T-waves are almost always reciprocal to ischemia in the region of aVL (although aVL looks n ormal here) , and in a patient with chest pain are nearly diagnostic of ischemia. An emergency cardiac ultrasound could be very useful.

Cardiac Arrest 52

Cardiac Arrest Myocardial Infarction Chest Pain Ischemia 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 26, 2017

There was no chest pain or SOB at the tim of the ECG: Computerized QTc is 464 ms A previous ECG from 8 years prior was normal. My opinion was that it was not a cath lab case, but I did suggest they do a bedside ultrasound to look for an anterior wall motion abnormality. I had not seen the cardiac ultrasounds at this time.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain STEMI Ultrasound Pulmonary 52

Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

OCTOBER 10, 2024

The patient had experienced one month of chest pains, coughing and hemoptysis symptoms. Ultrasound showed no thrombosis in the veins of both lower limbs. After treatment, the patient's chest pain symptoms were relieved, and there were no symptoms such as difficulty breathing.

Embolism 40

Embolism Pulmonary Chest Pain Thrombosis 40

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 6, 2010

He had no previous history of CAD, and presented with very typical waxing and waning chest pain, much worse with exertion but also present at rest and on presentation, though his pain was minimal at the time of the ECG. I saw this 59 year old male 3 weeks ago. Blood pressure was 150/80.

STEMI 52

STEMI Chest Pain Ultrasound Blood Pressure 52

Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

OCTOBER 7, 2024

Two months later, cardiac ultrasound showed pericardial fluid. Postoperative patient experienced chest pain, right shoulder and upper limb swelling and pain. Pain management and anticoagulant therapy were administered. Then monthly follow-up echocardiography was performed.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Ultrasound Cancer Outcomes 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 11, 2021

Jesse McLaren (@ECGcases), of Emergency Medicine Cases Reviewed by Pendell Meyers and Steve Smith An 85yo with a history of hypertension developed chest pain and collapsed, and had bystander CPR. On arrival, GCS was 13 and the patient complained of ongoing chest pain. Vitals were HR 58 BP 167/70 R20 sat 96%.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain Cardiac Arrest Ischemia Cardiogenic Shock 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2022

Written by Pendell Meyers and Peter Brooks MD A man in his 30s with no known past medical history was reported to suddenly experience chest pain and shortness of breath at home in front of his family. Chest pain, SOB, Precordial T-wave inversions, and positive troponin. Now another, with ultrasound. This is a quiz.

Cardiac Arrest 52

Cardiac Arrest Chest Pain Embolism Pulmonary 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 1, 2023

A man in his mid 60s with history of CAD and stents experienced sudden onset epigastric abdominal pain radiating up into his chest at home, waking him from sleep. He had active chest pain at the time of triage at 0137 at night, with this triage ECG: What do you think? Gallbladder ultrasound was negative for stones.

Stent 127

Stent Stents STEMI Physiology 127

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 12, 2013

He had no chest pain. The computer read is: **Acute MI ** The protocol for prehospital activation in the EMS system that this patient presented to requires 2 elements: 1) Chest pain 2) A computer read of **Acute MI ** Only 1 of 2 was present, so there was no prehospital activation. The patient was transported to the ED.

STEMI 52

STEMI Pulmonary Stents Stent 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 28, 2023

He arrived in the ED and had an immediate bedside cardiac ultrasound while this ECG was being recorded. The bedside ultrasound (video not available) reportedly showed only a slightly reduced LV function. The patient was given 6mg, then 12 mg, of adenosine, without a change in the rhythm. Here is the ECG: What do you think?

Tachycardia 98

Tachycardia Ultrasound Heart Disease Atrial Fibrillation 98

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 6, 2023

If you saw this ECG only knowing that it is an acute chest pain patient, what would be your interpretation? However, in the context of the first ECG and the waning chest pain, this is diagnostic of reperfusion. Due to the severity of the pain and the high BP, they obtained an aortic dissection CT.

Chest Pain 52

Chest Pain STEMI Stenosis Blog 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 13, 2019

Written by Pendell Meyers A man in his late 40s with several ACS risk factors presented with a chief complaint of chest pain. Several hours prior to presentation, while driving his truck, he started experiencing new central chest pain, without radiation, aggravating/alleviating factors, or other associated symptoms.

Pericarditis 52

Pericarditis Chest Pain Aortic Blog 52