Tuesday, July 31, 2012

ECG Interpretation Case 5

A 51 year old male came to the ED with ongoing chest pain  since 4 hours.
There is no past medical history.
No history of Smoking and alcohol intake.
Vitals
B.P 130/70 mmHg
H.R 90/min
The ECG is displayed below.
Interpret the ECG and leave your comments in the box below.

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7 comments:

  1. Is the challenge trying to read the EKG or reading it? Sinus as it appears to be, short PR maybe low Atrial/congenital defect or a sign of this PT problem today? Poss low Atrial rhy. Bi-Gem PVC, Inf/Ant-Lat St-Segment changes Poss Sub-endocardium infarction. QRS L chest leads could suggest LVH, short PR may account for this appearance and its St segment and T Wave abberation maybe attribute to repolarization abnormality seen in LVH. Is patient on DIG? Its MI till proven other wise with this HX.

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  2. To me the challenge with this interesting tracing is that the underlying rhythm is ventricular bigeminy (every-other-beat = a PVC). As a result - we see very few sinus beats ... I do think this is underlying sinus rhythm (upright P in lead II, albeit with a somewhat short PR interval).

    One has to look ONLY at the sinus-conducted beats to assess ST-T wave changes. These suggest a Q and slight (but real) ST elevation in lead aVL - perhaps slight ST elevation in lead aVR - and significant ST flattening and depression in multiple other leads. The T wave of sinus beats in V2,V3 is overly peaked (hyperacute vs posterior ischemia) - so my concern is ischemia - and possible posterolateral MI (subtle).

    Also of note - is there is a LOT of J-point ST depression in the PVCs. While often nonspecific to try to interpret ST-T changes of ectopic beats - when this marked in the setting given of a 51yo man with 4 hours of chest pain - this to me supports he may well be infarcting!

    Interesting tracing.

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  3. BELOW WHAT I WROTE ON THE CARDIOLOGY PAGE:

    @Mario- GOOD Comments! First - technically - I had to make a screen shot of this tracing and then blow it up to try to get a "better look" - because it is technically difficult to interpret as it is .... That said - doing the above - I was able to get a good picture.

    Regarding lead V3 - it looks like it shows an rSR' complex - which is a bit of an unusual picture in lead V3 (probably because you go from very negative in V2 - to very positive in V4). There is LVH - and YES, poor r wave progression with it VERY difficult to know what to make of this (since LVH may produce PRWP and anterior MI may produce deeper-than-expected S waves in anterior leads ....). That said - it doesn't look like there is acute anterior MI ...

    Given that this patient is having 4 hours of chest pain - my guess is that he will undergo acute cath - that should provide the answer. Follow-up tracings will tell us if the subtle ST elevation in aVL is part of the problem - vs significant 3-vessel or left main disease .... but NEEDS a cath - : )

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