Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 22, 2024

EKG from triage: Here is his previous ECG: Normal ST Elevation Resident's interpretation: Reperfusion pattern/Wellens' with biphasic T waves in V2 and V3, and in comparison to an EKG in 2020 this is new. Bedside ultrasound with no apparent wall motion abnormalities, no pericardial effusion, no right heart strain.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 18, 2023

All initial ECGs were labeled ‘normal’ or ‘otherwise normal’ by the computer interpretation, and below are the ECGs with the final cardiology interpretation. 1-3] But these studies were very short duration and used cardiology interpretation of ECGs or emergent angiography rather than patient outcomes.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

Her ECG is shown below: What do you think? The conventional machine algorithm interpreted this ECG as STEMI. Alternatively, with STE in V1 and III, and STD in I and aVL, this ECG could represent proximal RCA OMI with right ventricular involvement. What do you do clinically when the ECG looks like this?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 19, 2024

These ECGs were texted to me by one of our previous ultrasound fellows, Will Smoot An elderly male arrived via EMS for acute substernal chest pain with radiation to left shoulder and arm that awakened him from sleep at 0030. Here is the initial ED ECG: Here that first ECG is cleaned up by PM Cardio app: What do you think?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 5, 2024

The following ECG was obtained. ECG 1 What do you think? The ECG shows sinus bradycardia but is otherwise normal. There is TWI in lead III, but this can be seen in normal ECGs. The following ECG was obtained around midnight. The machine read was "Normal sinus rhythm, normal ECG." ECG 2 What do you think?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 2, 2021

Triage EKG: What do you think? A prior ECG was available for comparison. Prior EKG from 2 months ago was available: Let's put the precordial leads from the 2 ECGs side by side: Now you can really see the difference. Immediately after the second ECG was performed, the patient's pain resolved completely.

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EKG/ECG Ultrasounds EMS Documentation/Coding 52

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 10, 2022

Initial ROSC was obtained, during which this ECG was obtained: What do you think? I sent it to 2 of my ECG nerd colleagues with no clinical information whatsoever, who instantly said: "Looks like afib with subendocardial ischemia and right heart strain pattern." "I CPR was initiated immediately. The rhythm is atrial fibrillation.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 23, 2022

The ECG told the story. EMS recorded these prehospital ECGs: Time 0: In V2-V4, there is ST elevation that does not meet STEMI "criteria," of 1.5 Time = 24 min S-wave depth is diminishing These prehospital ECGs were lost and not seen. This patient has a non-diagnostic ECG by most rules. She called 911. STE 60 V3 = 1.5

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 3, 2023

This ECG was recorded in triage. The computer interpretation is: “Sinus Brady with moderate intraventricular conduction delay, nonspecific t wave abnormality, abnormal EKG” What do you think? Case Continued The ECG findings were not recognized. Therefore, no matter the initial ECG, record serial ECGs.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 15, 2024

Colin is an emergency medicine resident beginning his critical care fellowship in the summer with a strong interest in the role of ECG in critical care and OMI. An ECG was obtained shortly after arrival: ECG 1 What do you think? The ECG has a lot of artifact, and the amplitude is very small, making interpretation challenging.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 14, 2024

Here is his first ECG (1/10 pain): Smith: sinus rhythm with RBBB and normal ST-T. An ECG from 4 years prior was the same. In the absence of clear ECG signs of OMI, one should always start with aspirin and NTG, perhaps intravenous NTG, and see if the pain can be managed. He presented on this day because it did not go away.

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ACEP Now

OCTOBER 9, 2024

Collaborating with one of my ultrasound faculty, we conducted a bedside echocardiogram to explore potential cardiac anomalies. Our workup started with an ultrasound and EKG. EKGs will have abnormalities in about 90 percent, but they are typically nonspecific findings. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2012;41(6):1260-1270.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 13, 2024

Here is the initial ECG at 13:17 with no prior ECG in the patient’s chart for comparison: What do you think? This is another version of the same ECG, lower quality, and with an additional filter applied. See Ken Grauer's additional comments about this ECG at the end of the post! The culprit mid LAD lesion was stented.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2022

This case was provided by Spencer Schwartz, an outstanding paramedic at Hennepin EMS who is on Hennepin EMS's specialized "P3" team, a team that receives extra training in advanced procedures such as RSI, thoracostomy, vasopressors, and prehospital ultrasound. Our first 12 lead ECG was then recorded at 0926. What do you think?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 28, 2023

Here is his ECG. See this articles: Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (NEJM review) One etiology of LVH on the ECG is Hypertrophic Cardiolmyopathy (HOCM), and sometimes ECGs in patients with HOCM are specific for HOCM. But this ECG is NOT specific for HOCM. Figure-1: The ECG in today's case.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MAY 30, 2023

His prehospital ECG was diagnostic of inferior posterior OMI. Here is his ED ECG: There is bradycardia with a junctional escape. We recorded an ECG in which V1-V3 were put in the position of V4R-V6R, and V4-6 were placed in V7-9 to (academically) confirm posterior OMI. The patient was in clinical shock with a lactate of 8.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 26, 2024

Here is his ECG: Original image, suboptimal quality Quality improved with PM Cardio digitization The ECG is highly suggestive of acute right heart strain, with sinus tachycardia, S1Q3T3, and T wave inversions in anterior and inferior with morphology consistent with acute right heart strain. Moreover, there is tachycardia.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

I was texted this ECG just as I was getting into bed. Ken (below) is appropriately worried about pulmonary embolism from the ECG. What I had not told him before he made that judgement is that the patient also had ultrasound B-lines of pulmonary edema. Figure-1: I've labeled the initial ECG in today's case.

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Taming the SRU

JANUARY 10, 2024

R4 Case Follow-up: SCAD WITH dr. Martella Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD) is a diagnosis confirmed via imaging: Coronary Angiography, Optical Coherence Tomography, Intravascular Ultrasound Therefore, treatment in the ED is the same as atherosclerotic ACS: ASA, heparin gtt and possible statin.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

Her presenting ECG is shown below: ECG 1 What do you think? I had previously run this ECG through QOH in the PMcardio app environment and she reported mid confidence, shown below. You can see that version 2 has a higher number than version 1, hence she sees the ECG as more OMI-like than version 1. I sent this to Drs.

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EMDocs

APRIL 2, 2024

Check the pulse RSI= Resuscitation Sequence Intubation Hypoxia, Hypotension, and Acidosis are the reason patients code during/post intubation These patients are super high risk for all 4 Optimize first pass success – Induction agent + paralytic Unconscious patients will still have muscle tone Induction Ketamine or Etomidate at half doses (i.e.,

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 28, 2024

Bedside ultrasound showed volume depletion and no pulmonary edema. Here is the prehospital ECG: First ED ECG What do you think? But I changed my mind after seeing the old ECG (below) I later sent it to Ken Grauer, who annotated as below with the red Xs: The "Y" in lead II across the bottom appears to be a PVC.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

OCTOBER 17, 2024

Past medical history included RBBB without other cardiac history, but old ECG was not available. As for the ECG, it could represent OMI, but RBBB is also a clue that it may be PE. But with prehospital and ED ECGs being ‘STEMI negative’, the ECG was signed off and the patient waited to be seen.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 2, 2024

Bedside ED ultrasound showed exceedingly poor global LV function, and no B lines. Here is the initial ED ECG. Other thought this was due to hyperkalemia, but the ECG does not have the appearance of hyperkalemia but does have the appearance of severe cardiomyopathy -- LBBB with very wide QRS) 3. What do you think?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JUNE 28, 2023

He arrived in the ED and had an immediate bedside cardiac ultrasound while this ECG was being recorded. The bedside ultrasound (video not available) reportedly showed only a slightly reduced LV function. Here is the ECG: What do you think? Here is the post cardioversion ECG: What do you think?

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The Skeptics' Guide to EM

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

The EKG shows sinus tachycardia with nonspecific changes and no ST segment elevations, Q waves, or hyperacute T waves. Her point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) shows appropriate-appearing global ejection fraction and no marked wall motion abnormalities. The AHA has a statement with recommendations based on the available data.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

AUGUST 9, 2024

These diagnoses were not found in his medical records nor even a baseline ECG. An ECG was obtained shortly after arrival: What do you think? There is no evidence of WPW on this ECG, but it is diagnostic for OMI. He reported a history of “Wolf-Parkinson-White” and “heart attack” but said neither had been treated.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 21, 2024

The below ECG was recorded. The ECG shows obvious STEMI(+) OMI due to probable proximal LAD occlusion. This ECG does not have the typical ST-vector of an LAD occlusion. See below for Ken Grauer Comment on the initial ECG: == On arrival, another ECG was recorded: There appears to have been quite a bit of spontaneous reperfusion!

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JULY 5, 2024

Her heart rate was very fast, so we obtained an ECG immediately: ECG: What do you think? A formal ultrasound later showed reasonably good LV function, and so he later received carvedilol and diltiazem, Unfortunately, those led to hypotension at 80/40 with a HR 40. WHY Did We Think Today's ECG was Supraventricular?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

MARCH 6, 2023

If you saw this ECG only knowing that it is an acute chest pain patient, what would be your interpretation? But you can make a diagnosis here, and Pendell and I do this all the time when reading ECGs from databases. The patient had this ECG recorded at 7 minutes after registration at triage as a walk-in (not by EMS): What do you think?

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

APRIL 20, 2018

This is her pre-hospital ECG: This is her first ECG in the ED: What do you think? However, the prehospital ECG is more worrisome: the T-wave inversion in V5 and V6 is preceded by ST Elevation. When I say " relative ," I mean relative to the previous ECG, which is the baseline, chronic, non-ischemic ECG.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

We will start with his baseline EKG: There is voltage suggestive of LVH. This is his presenting EKG (T= 26min): What do you think? Hence, the term "pseudonormalization", because it is not really normal - LVH should have repolarization changes seen in the baseline EKG. Thus, there is relative ST depression.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

JANUARY 23, 2023

The screening physician ordered an EKG and noted his ashen appearance and moderate distress. Triage EKG: What do you think? Close up of V3 with baseline in red Close up of V4 with baseline in red This ECG alone is highly suspicious for posterior OMI! This is a very specific marker of posterior OMI. Epub 2021 Nov 15.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

FEBRUARY 12, 2023

I was reading EKGs on the system before a shift, and saw this one: What do you think? So I thought it probably is not posterior OMI and I just moved on and kept reading EKGs. So I thought it probably is not posterior OMI and I just moved on and kept reading EKGs. So we did a bedside cardiac ultrasound.

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Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

Initial ED ECG: What do you think? Then we must consider clinical data other than the ECG, for a pretest probability : Of all wide complex tachydysrhythmias, the majority are VT. Pads were placed with ultrasound guidance, so they were in the correct position. Definitive diagnosis that ECG #1 is in fact VT is more than academic.

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ACEP Now

NOVEMBER 7, 2024

TCAD should be considered in a young person with a history of recent chest trauma followed hours to weeks later with anginal symptoms plus any combination of ischemic ECG changes, troponin elevation, or wall motion abnormalities on point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS).

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The Skeptics' Guide to EM

SEPTEMBER 28, 2024

Annals of Emergency Medicine, May 2024 Guest Skeptic: Dr. Casey Parker is a Rural Generalist from Australia who is also an ultrasounder. There are no abnormalities in the blood work, ECG, or chest x-ray. Diagnostic Accuracy of D-Dimer for Acute Aortic Syndromes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Her pain seems to have settled.

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