Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

DECEMBER 29, 2015

Case history A middle-aged woman with a history of HTN, but no prior CAD, presented to the ED with chest pain. The criteria of Armstrong et al. would require the ST/S ratio to be 25% for diagnosis of STEMI in LVH. Can you diagnose an ACO (STEMI) when you also have LVH? One retrospective analysis by Armstrong et al.

STEMI 52

STEMI Coronary ALS CAD 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

Reference on Troponins: Xenogiannis I, Vemmou E, Nikolakopoulos I, et al. J Electrocardiol [Internet] 2022;Available from: [link] Cardiology opinion: Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy (EF 30-35%) V Fib Cardiac arrest Prolonged QTC NSTEMI (Smith comment: is it NSTEMI or is it Takotsubo? -- these are entirely different) Moderate single-vessel CAD.

Emergency Department 52

Emergency Department E-9-1-1 Coronary STEMI 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 6, 2019

This is technically a STEMI, with 1.5 However, I think many practitioners might not see this as a clear STEMI, and would instead call this "borderline." They collected several repeat ECGs at the outside hospital before transport: None of these three ECGs meet STEMI criteria. This ECG was recorded on arrival: What do you think?

STEMI 52

STEMI ALS ACS OR 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 22, 2023

A prior ECG from 1 month ago was available: The presentation ECG was interpreted as STEMI and the patient was transferred emergently to the nearest PCI center. The patient proceeded to cath where all coronaries were described as normal with no evidence of any CAD, spasm, or any other abnormality. So maybe she is better than I am.

E-9-1-1 70

E-9-1-1 CAD OR STEMI 70

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

AUGUST 9, 2019

When total LM occlusion does present with STE in aVR, there is ALWAYS ST Elevation elsewhere which makes STEMI obvious; in other words, STE is never limited to only aVR but instead it is part of a massive and usually obvious STEMI. All are, however, clearly massive STEMI. This is her ECG: An obvious STEMI, but which artery?

Coronary 52

Coronary STEMI ACS ALS 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 12, 2017

This is diagnostic of inferior MI, though does not meet millimeter criteria for "STEMI." He had a family history of early CAD and occasional drug and tobacco use. He was worried for inferior MI and ordered another, which was recorded 15 minutes later: Now clearly and obviously diagnostic of inferior STEMI.

STEMI 52

STEMI CAD Coronary ALS 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 9, 2023

No family history of sudden cardiac death, cardiomyopathy, premature CAD, or other cardiac issues. 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. The ECG easily meets STEMI criteria in all leads V2-V6, as well. Pericarditis?

Coronary 52

Coronary STEMI Heart Attack OR 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

A man in his 70s with past medical history of hypertension, dyslipidemia, CAD s/p left circumflex stent 2 years prior presented to the ED with worsening intermittent exertional chest pain relieved by rest. Hayakawa A, Tsukahara K, Miyagawa S, et al. Written by Nathanael Franks MD, reviewed by Meyers, Smith, Grauer, etc. Am J Emerg Med.

ACS 83

ACS Coronary ALS CAD 83

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 18, 2013

So I went to look at the chart and here is the history: This patient with no h/o CAD had a couple of episodes of chest pain during the day, then presented with one hour of substernal chest pain that had some reproducibility but also improved from 10/10 to 5/10 with nitroglycerine. Fesmire et al. Wang T, Zhang M, Fu Y, et al.

STEMI 52

STEMI Coronary ALS CAD 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 1, 2013

A middle aged male with no h/o CAD presented with one week of crescendo exertional angina, and had chest pain at the time of the first ECG: Here is the patient's previous ECG: Here is the patient's presenting ED ECG: There is isolated ST depression in precordial leads, deeper in V2 - V4 than in V5 or V6. There is no ST elevation.

STEMI 52

STEMI ACS Coronary CAD 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

A middle-aged male with h/o CAD and stents presented with typical chest pressure. It may be difficult to read STEMI in the setting of RBBB. There is, however, a long QT also, with abnormal T-waves, but this is not STEMI. So there is pathologic ST elevation here, consistent with anterolateral STEMI. Called 911.

STEMI 52

STEMI CPR CAD Coronary 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 30, 2019

2) The STE in V1 and V2 has an R'-wave and downsloping ST segments, very atypical for STEMI. Cardiology was consulted and they agreed that the EKG had an atypical morphology for STEMI and did not activate the cath lab. In the largest study looking at this topic by Mizusawa et al., There was a 0.9%

E-9-1-1 52

E-9-1-1 CAD STEMI OR 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 11, 2019

These findings are very subtle but suspicious for LAD occlusion, as we have seen in many similar (but less difficult) cases on this blog: A man in his sixties with chest pain at midnight with undetectable troponin How long would you like to wait for your Occlusion MI to show a STEMI? He also had non-acute CAD of the RCA (50%) and LCX (50%).

STEMI 52

STEMI ACS CAD ED 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 19, 2016

Clinical Course The paramedic activated a “Code STEMI” alert and transported the patient nearly 50 miles to the closest tertiary medical center. 2 The astute paramedic recognized this possibility and announced a CODE STEMI. Taglieri N, Marzocchi A, Saia F, et al. Kosuge M, Ebina T, Hibi K, et al. What do you see?

Coronary 52

Coronary ACS ALS STEMI 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

This study from Herzog et al (from our own Hennepin County Medical Center) included patients from a national registry and compared 3049 patients on dialysis admitted and eventually found to have acute MI compared with 534,395 patients not on dialysis admitted with an eventual diagnosis of acute MI. Herzog et al.

CAD 52

CAD OR ED ALS 52