Abstract
An 85-year-old male with a past medical history of hyperlipidemia presented to his primary care physician with chest pain. The patient had experienced an acute episode of substernal chest pain that resolved spontaneously three days prior to presentation. An electrocardiogram (ECG) was obtained in the office which showed inverted and biphasic T-waves throughout the precordial chest leads (Panel A, arrows). The patient was sent to the emergency department and underwent an emergent cardiac catheterization which revealed a 99% proximal left anterior descending (LAD) artery occlusion (Panel B, arrow). A drug-eluting stent was placed with successful revascularization (Panel C, arrow). Wellens syndrome is characterized by a history of recent chest pain accompanied by biphasic or deeply inverted T-waves in V2-V3 on ECG. Clinicians must remain vigilant for this presentation of acute coronary syndrome as the finding is highly sensitive for a critical LAD stenosis and impending myocardial infarction.
Recommended Citation
Elfatatry, MD, Youssef and Gardner, MD, Ryan
(2024)
"Wellens' Syndrome on Electrocardiogram, A Highly Specific Indicator of Critical Stenosis of the Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery,"
The Medicine Forum: Vol. 25, Article 10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29046/TMF.025.1.009
Available at:
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/tmf/vol25/iss1/10
