scholarly journals Uncommon Variant of Wellens’ Syndrome: A Case Report and Review of Literature

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Layal Mansour MD ◽  
Elie Chammas MD, FESC, FACC ◽  
Fida Charif MD ◽  
Mohamad Jihad Mansour

<p><em>A 48-year-old male was admitted to the emergency department because of intermittent chest pain of 2 days duration. At the time of examination, he was pain-free. An electrocardiogram (ECG) showed biphasic T waves in leads V2 to V6. Troponin-I level was negative. During his transfer to the cardiac catheterization laboratory, he had a short episode of chest pain. His ECG was normal. Despite the unusual extension of biphasic T waves to the lateral precordial leads, the condition was recognized as Wellens’ syndrome, which typically associates biphasic or deep symmetric T wave inversion in leads V2 and V3 during pain-free periods with a critical stenosis in the proximal left anterior descending artery. The syndrome is uncommon to medical practice but should be recognized immediately in the emergency department because it represents a pre-infarction stage and carries a high risk of mortality. </em><em></em></p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 312
Author(s):  
R Gunaseelan ◽  
M Sasikumar ◽  
K Aswin ◽  
B Nithya ◽  
N Balamurugan ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Edris Alderwish ◽  
William Nassour ◽  
Ana Costea ◽  
Tennyson Smith ◽  
Claire Carrazco ◽  
...  

Background: Wellens’ sign (WS) has been reported as a sign of critical proximal left anterior descending (PLAD) artery lesion with lumen narrowing greater than 90%. Wellens’ ECG signs for critical PLAD lesion are characterized by two different electrocardiogram (ECG) patterns: 1) Deep T wave inversion in leads V2, V3 (approximately 76% of cases); and 2) Biphasic T wave in leads V2, V3 (approximately 24% of cases). The prevalence of the ECG feature of WS ranges from 14-18%. The prognostic significance of WS in detecting significant coronary artery lesion defined as a luminal narrowing of the coronary vessel by more than 70% has not been well studied. Our study’s goal was to evaluate if WS is present in all patients with critical and significant PLAD lesions and is a sensitive or specific sign for critical and significant (>70% stenosis) PLAD lesions. Methods: All patients that underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) at an urban community hospital between January 2009 and December 2011 were included in the study. Log books from the cardiac catheterization laboratory were reviewed for all lesion types and corresponding demographics. The ECGs of patients with PLAD lesion were reviewed for T wave changes in precordial leads. Additionally, demographics such as age, gender and cardiovascular risk factors were recorded and analyzed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: A total of 431 patients underwent PCI [emergent PCI 152 (35.3%), elective PCI 279 (64.7%)]. A total of 78 patients (18.1%) from both groups were found to have PLAD lesion. Fifty eight patients were male and 20 patients were female. The average age was 63.7 years. Critical PLAD lesion was present in 26 patients (33.3%) and 52 patients (66.7%) had PLAD lesion less than 90%. Of the 26 patients, 17 (65.4%) had WS. Wellens’ sign for predicting a critical PLAD had a sensitivity of 65.4%, a specificity of 69.2%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 51.5% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 80% (p = 0.0069, two-tailed Fisher’s exact test). Of the 42 patients who had PLAD lesion greater than 70%, 21 patients (50%) had WS. Of the 36 patients who had PLAD lesion less than 70%, 11 patients (30.6%) had WS. Wellens’ sign for predicting significant PLAD lesion in this cohort has a sensitivity of 50%, a specificity of 69.4%, a PPV of 65.6% and a NPV of 54.3% ( p = 0.1074). Conclusion: Our results corroborated prior studies showing that WS predicts the presence of critical (90%) PLAD lesion. Unfortunately, the value of WS for detecting/predicting significant CAD in PLAD was weak. Our results indicated that we were not able to predict the presence of significant (70%) PLAD lesion using WS. However, in appropriate clinical settings such as Non-ST elevation MI (NSTEMI) or unstable angina, Wellens’ sign may indicate the need for a more aggressive treatment strategy with patients proceeding to the cardiac catheterization suite sooner than later.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 117954761772330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Himani Sharma ◽  
Abhinav Tiwari

T-wave inversion on electrocardiogram (ECG) is always a concerning finding as it is often associated with myocardial ischemia or ventricular strain. Respiratory variation in the T-wave morphology has been reported in the literature; however, the frequency of this observation remains unknown as this is not routinely evaluated. Although the exact physiological mechanisms underlying this ECG change are unclear, it is proposed to be due to the respiratory variation of the heart position resulting in an alteration in T-wave polarity. We describe a case of a patient who presented with chest pain with T-wave inversions in inferior and lateral ECG leads. On repeating ECG with breath held in end inspiration, the T waves became positive. The pain was found to be musculoskeletal in origin. This case is a reminder of an under-recognized physiological phenomenon involving the cardiac conduction. Variation of T-wave morphology with respiration may suggest a noncardiac cause of chest pain.


2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 568-570
Author(s):  
Hakan Ayyildiz ◽  
Mehmet Kalayci ◽  
Nadire Cinkilinc ◽  
Mahmut Bozkurt ◽  
Makbule Kutlu Karadag

Abstract Objective Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease of the heart caused by various agents and especially enteroviruses, and it is difficult to diagnose and treat. Myocarditis is rarely associated with bacterial infections. Although the most common bacterial infections are Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp., extremely rare cases of Myocarditis due to Campylobacter jejuni are also reported. Patient and methods A 17-year-old male patient with no previous chronic illness was admitted to our emergency department with complaints of abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and chest pain. He stated that symptoms began after eating a chicken burger a few days ago. Results In the laboratory tests performed, CK-MB and high sensitive Troponin I values were determined as 33.8 IU/L and 1816 ng/L, respectively. Electrocardiogram results revealed left axis left anterior hemiblock in the normal sinus rhythm as well as a ST-T change in the inferior and lateral derivations. Campylobacter jejuni was detected in the stool sample of the patient. Conclusion Myocarditis is one of the rare complications of C. jejuni infection. Bacterial myocarditis should be considered when troponin and cardiac enzymes are elevated in patients admitted to the emergency department with diarrhea and chest pain.


Perfusion ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-122
Author(s):  
Thach Nguyen ◽  
Hoang Do ◽  
Tri Pham ◽  
Loc T Vu ◽  
Marco Zuin ◽  
...  

Background: New onset of heart failure (HF) is an indication for the assessment of coronary artery disease. The aim of this study was to clarify the mechanistic causes of new onset HF associated with ischemic electrocardiograph (EKG) changes and chest pain in patients with patent or minimally diseased coronary arteries. Methods: Twenty consecutive patients (Group A) were retrospectively reviewed if they had an history of new onset of HF, chest pain, electrocardiographic changes indicating ischemia (ST depression or T wave inversion in at least two consecutive leads and a negative coronary angiogram [CA]) and did not require percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting. A 1:1 matched cohort (Group B) was adopted to validate the results. Results: All patients had a negative CA. The majority of subjects in Group A had a higher left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) when compared to the control group (p<0.05). Similarly, the aortic diastolic (AOD) pressure was lower in Group A than in Group B (p<0.05). In patients with elevated LVEDP and low AOD, with a coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) <20 mmHg, deep T wave inversion in two consecutive leads were more frequently observed. When the CPP was between 20-30 mmHg, a mild ST depression were more frequently recorded (p<0.05). Conversely, when the CPP was >30 mmHg, only mild non-specific ST-T changes or normal EKG were observed. Conclusions: In patients with HF and EKG changes suggestive of ischemia in at least two consecutive leads, a lower AOD could aggravate ischemia in patients with elevated left ventricular end diastolic pressure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Hansen ◽  
C Bang ◽  
K G Lauridsen ◽  
C A Frederiksen ◽  
M Schmidt ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction According to ESC guidelines, an acute myocardial infarction (MI) can be excluded without serial troponin measurements in patients presenting with a single high-sensitive troponin below the 99th percentile and chest pain starting >6 hours prior to admission. However, it is unclear if single-testing of high-sensitive troponin can rule-out MI in early presenters. Purpose To investigate the diagnostic performance of a single value of high-sensitive cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) at presentation for ruling-out MI in patients presenting with chest pain to the Emergency Department irrespective of chest pain onset. Methods We conducted a substudy of preliminary data from the RACING-MI trial. We included patients presenting with chest pain suggestive of MI to the Emergency Department of a Regional Hospital. We used the Siemens hs-cTnI (Siemens Healthcare, TNIH, Limit of detection: 2.21 ng/L) and a diagnostic cut-off value <3 ng/L to rule-out MI at presentation. Two physicians independently adjudicated the final diagnosis based on all clinical information. Patients were stratified based on time from chest pain onset to hospital admission as very early (0–3 hours), early (3–6 hours) and late presenters (>6 hours). Results We included 989 patients with available hs-cTnI results at admission. MI was confirmed in 82 (8.3%) patients. Using hs-cTnI <3 ng/L as diagnostic cut-off value at presentation, 302 (30.5%) patients without MI were classified as rule-out. Overall, the negative predictive value (NPV) for MI was 100% (95% CI 98.7–100). Based on chest pain onset, 33.8% of patients were classified as very early, 12.8% as early, and 42.7% as late presenters, with 10.7% patients with unreported/unknown onset. NPV was 100% (95% CI 96.5–100) for very early, 100% (95% CI 88.3–100) for early and 100% (95% CI 97.3–100) for late presenters. Conclusions Using a single hs-cTnI value <3ng/L as diagnostic cut-off to rule-out MI seems to be safe and to allow rapid rule-out of MI in patients presenting with chest pain to the emergency department, even in very early presenters. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03634384. Acknowledgement/Funding Randers Regional Hospital, A.P Møller Foundation, Boserup Foundation, Korning Foundation, Højmosegård Grant, Siemens Healthcare (TNIH assays), etc.


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