Remove Defibrillator Remove Embolism Remove STEMI
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1 hour of CPR, then ECMO circulation, then successful defibrillation.

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

She was unable to be defibrillated but was cannulated and placed on ECMO in our Emergency Department (ECLS - extracorporeal life support). After good ECMO flow was established, she was successfully defibrillated. Here is a case of ECMO defibrillation with near shark fin that was due to proximal LAD occlusion. The K was normal.

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50 yo with V fib has ROSC, then these 2 successive ECGs: what is the infarct artery?

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

This certainly looks like an anterior STEMI (proximal LAD occlusion), with STE and hyperacute T-waves (HATW) in V2-V6 and I and aVL. How do you explain the anterior STEMI(+)OMI immediately after ROSC evolving into posterior OMI 30 minutes later? This caused a type 2 anterior STEMI.

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A man in his 30s with cardiac arrest and STE on the post-ROSC ECG

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

It was reportedly a PEA arrest; there was no recorded V Fib and no defibrillation. The morphology of V2-V4 is very specific in my experience for acute right heart strain (which has many potential etiologies, but none more common and important in EM than acute pulmonary embolism). CT angiogram showed extensive saddle pulmonary embolism.

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Upon arrival to the emergency department, a senior emergency physician looked at the ECG and said "Nothing too exciting."

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

She was defibrillated and resuscitated. Transient and partial thrombosis at the site of a non-obstructive plaque with subsequent spontaneous fibrinolysis and distal embolization may be one of the mechanisms responsible for the occurrence of MINOCA. This has resulted in an under-representation of STEMI MINOCA patients in the literature.

Plaque 52