Remove Plaque Remove Risk Factors Remove SCAD
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"A patient just arrived as a transfer for NSTEMI."

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

I quickly reviewed the patient’s records and saw that she was a 53 year old woman with a history of BMI 40, but no other identifiable risk factors for coronary artery disease. The final diagnosis was spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) starting in the mid LAD and continuing distally where it wraps around the apex.

SCAD 124
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An athletic 30-something woman with acute substernal chest pressure

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

She had zero CAD risk factors. What is Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD)? I asked Angie Lobo ( [link] ), a third year intermal medicine resident at Abbott Northwestern Hospital (and Minneapolis Heart Institute) and an aspiring cardiologist, to write a couple paragraphs on SCAD.

SCAD 52
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1 hour of CPR, then ECMO circulation, then successful defibrillation.

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

If the arrest was caused by acute MI due to plaque rupture, then the diagnosis is MINOCA. Here is my comment on MINOCA: "Non-obstructive coronary disease" does not necessarily imply "no plaque rupture with thrombus." They often cannot even be recognized as culprits, as fissured or ulcerated plaque. FFR can be useful.