NSTEMI with total left circumflex occlusion: how the N-wave might help

A rise and/or fall in troponin level is an indication of type 1 or 2 myocardial infarct. A 62-year-old male physician presented to emergency room with chest discomfort followed by thought to be normal electrocardiogram (ECG) and normal echocardiography results. His serial hs-troponin test showed remarkable escalation three hours from the initial (107 ng/l into 4.978 ng/l), suggesting a high-risk non-ST-segment myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). An early invasive procedure was performed, showing acute total occlusion (TO) in the obtuse marginal 1 branch. We retrospectively reviewed our examination to diagnose better the presence of TO in NSTEMI patients presented with non-diagnostic examination. Our evaluation showed a minor change in the form of an ‘N-wave’ pattern on the ECG, which was not yet an established guideline criterion for prompt angiography. Although ECG pattern is often normal in LCx occlusion, recent study shows the presence of ‘N-wave’ ECG pattern in 10% of NSTEMI cases following TO at LCx

Acute Pericarditis in Patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Case Report

Acute pericarditis is a common disorder caused by inflammation of the pericardium and can occur as an isolated entity or as a manifestation of an underlying systemic disease. The diagnosis of acute pericarditis is established when a patient has at least two of the following symptoms or signs: chest pain consistent with pericarditis, pericardial friction rub, typical ECG changes, or a pericardial effusion of more than trivial size. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune systemic disorder with unknown etio-pathogenesis. Upon the susceptible genetic, hormonal and abnormal immunologic background, the environmental factors may play role as trigger to permit disease development. Cardiovascular complications occur in more than half of the patients with SLE. Pericarditis is the most studied cardiovascular manifestation, although often not evident clinically, and it is included in the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for SLE. We report a clinical case of initially unremarkably findings which progressed to SLE complicated by full-blown acute pericarditis. A brief review of acute pericarditis, including etiology, clinical presentation, ECG criteria, echocardiographic manifestation, and treatment is presented.   Abstrak Perikarditis akut adalah penyakit yang disebabkan oleh inflamasi dari perikard, dapat terjadi sebagai entitas penyakit primer maupun sekunder sebagai manifestasi dari penyakit sistemik yang mendasarinya. Diagnosis perikarditis akut ditegakkan saat pasien mengalami setidaknya dua dari tanda atau gejala berikut: nyeri dada spesifik perikarditis, pericardial friction rub, perubahan EKG tipikal, atau adanya efusi perikard dengan ukuran lebih dari trivial. Lupus Eritematosus Sistemik (LES) adalah penyakit autoimun sistemik kronis dengan etiopatogenesis yang belum diketahui. Adanya kepekaan genetik, latar belakang imunologis abnormal dan hormonal, serta faktor lingkungan memegang peran sebagai pemicu perkembangan penyakit. Komplikasi kardiovaskular terjadi pada lebih dari setengah pasien dengan SLE. Perikarditis merupakan manifestasi kardiovaskular yang paling sering dijumpai, meskipun jarang ditemukan patognomonis secara klinis, dan termasuk dalam kriteria klasifikasi LES menurut American College of Rheumatology (ACR). Berikut kami laporkan kasus dengan presentasi klinis febris dan takikardia yang kemudian mengarah pada LES dengan komplikasi perikarditis akut. Kami sertakan juga ulasan tentang perikarditis akut, termasuk etiologi, presentasi klinis, kriteria EKG, manifestasi ekokardiografis, dan terapi

Simultaneous kissing stents in acute left main total occlusion complicated with cardiogenic shock

We present a case of acute left main bifurcation lesion presenting as very high-risk non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome. Consequently, an immediate invasive strategy for this complex anatomical lesion in an unstable patient requires an emergent bailout strategy to restore the haemodynamic condition. Our case shows the simultaneous kissing stents technique in a patient with a true left main bifurcation lesion (Medina 1-1-1) as a strategy to overcome the compromised haemodynamics. This protocol would be an alternative life-saving strategy in an acute setting

Detection of multi-class arrhythmia using heuristic and deep neural network on edge device

Heart disease is a heart condition that sometimes causes a person to die suddenly. One indication is a rhythm disorder known as arrhythmia. Multi-class Arrhythmia Detection has followed: QRS complex detection procedure and arrhythmia classification based on the QRS complex morphology. We proposed an edge device that detects QRS complexes based on variance analysis (QVAT) and the arrhythmia classification based on the QRS complex spectrogram. The classifier uses two-dimensional convolutional neural network (2D CNN) deep learning. We use a single board computer and neural network compute stick to implement the edge device. The outcomes are a prototype device cardiologists use as a supporting tool for analysing ECG signals, and patients can also use it for self-tests to figure out their heart health. To evaluate the performance of our edge device, we tested using the MIT-BIH database because other methods also use the data. The QVAT sensitivity and predictive positive are 99.81% and 99.90%, respectively. Our classifier's accuracy, sensitivity, predictive positive, specificity, and F1-score are 99.82%, 99.55%, 99.55%, 99.89%, and 99.55%, respectively. The experiment result of arrhythmia classification shows that our method outperforms the others. Still, for r-peak detection, the QVAT implemented in an edge device is comparable to the other methods. In future work, we can improve the performance of r-peak detection using the double-check algorithm in QVAT and cross-check the QRS complex detection by adding 1 class to the classifier, namely the non-QRS class

Myocarditis and coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination: A systematic review and meta-summary of cases

Vaccination is significant to control, mitigate, and recover from the destructive effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The incidence of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination has been increasing and growing public concern; however, little is known about it. This study aimed to systematically review myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination. We included studies containing individual patient data of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination published between January 1, 2020 and September 7, 2022 and excluded review articles. Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisals were used for risk of bias assessment. Descriptive and analytic statistics were performed. A total of 121 reports and 43 case series from five databases were included. We identified 396 published cases of myocarditis and observed that the majority of cases was male patients, happened following the second dose of mRNA vaccine administration, and experienced chest pain as a symptom. Previous COVID-19 infection was significantly associated (p < 0.01; OR, 5.74; 95% CI, 2.42–13.64) with the risk of myocarditis following the administration of the first dose, indicating that its primary mechanism is immune-mediated. Moreover, 63 histopathology examinations were dominated by non-infective subtypes. Electrocardiography and cardiac marker combination is a sensitive screening modality. However, cardiac magnetic resonance is a significant noninvasive examination to confirm myocarditis. Endomyocardial biopsy may be considered in confusing and severe cases. Myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination is relatively benign, with a median length of hospitalization of 5 days, intensive care unit admission of <12%, and mortality of <2%. The majority was treated with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, colchicine, and steroids. Surprisingly, deceased cases had characteristics of being female, older age, non-chest pain symptoms, first-dose vaccination, left ventricular ejection fraction of <30%, fulminant myocarditis, and eosinophil infiltrate histopathology

Wrapped left anterior descending artery STEMI: time to revisit

We report three cases of acute myocardial infarction caused by left anterior descending (LAD) artery occlusion presenting as ST elevation in the inferior. Therefore, coronary angiography showed an occlusion of the LAD coronary artery. Our cases show the rare occurrence of left coronary circulation dominance affecting inferior leads. These cases show an unusual and very rare form of left dominance coronary circulation where LAD is wrapped around the apex and continuing as a posterior descending artery. This would make inferior myocardial infarction because of occluded LAD or determine as wrapped LAD

Diuretic Resistance Management in a Patient with Type I Cardiorenal Syndrome: A Case Report

Diuretic resistance is commonly found as a problem in acute heart failure (AHF). A further understanding of diuretic response could lead to improved personal approaches for treating patients with AHF. A 48 yo male suffered shortness of breath with a history of hypertension and DM. The patient was diagnosed as Ischemic Cardiomyopathy with Type I Cardiorenal Syndrome. The patient was given a 40 mg continued by 80 mg intravenous furosemide and low dose dobutamine pump. As the patient had zero urine production, a 160 mg intravenous furosemide followed by 15 mg/hr. After high-dose furosemide was given, the urine production was increased and the patient showed improved signs and symptoms. Deteriorating kidney function and bad response to diuretics is a principal clinical problem in AHF. Some treatment strategies include a combination of diuretic therapy, an increased dose of intravenous loop diuretics, and ultrafiltration. However, this patient gave good respond only to high doses of loop diuretics

Spotting Spodick Sign in the Diagnostic Dilemma—Reply

In Reply We would like to express our gratitude to Dr Wu and colleagues for recognizing Spodick sign on the results of a postpercutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) electrocardiogram (ECG) in our case report.1 Spodick sign is characterized as a downsloping TP segment that is most clearly identified in lead II and the lateral precordial leads. Although Spodick sign can distinguish pericarditis from ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), it should be noted that there are no absolute pathognomonic signs to differentiate STEMI or pericarditis. One sign might be found concurrent to another disorder, albeit with a lower probability.2 Makaryus and colleagues3 and Chaubey and Chhabra4 reported that Spodick sign was found in 80% of cases of pericarditis, but the latest report by Witting and colleagues2 showed that the frequency of Spodick sign was 29% in pericarditis and 5% in STEMI. These authors also reported that the median number of leads showing downsloping TP segment was 4 (range, 1-6) in patients with pericarditis and 3 (range, 1-6) in patients with STEMI.2 Furthermore, Spodick sign criteria are only met when more than 1 lead shows the downsloping of the TP segment