Article Text

Reminder of important clinical lesson
Acute myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation in inferior and anterior leads: right ventricular infarction
  1. Robert Berent1,
  2. Johann Auer2,
  3. Serge von Duvillard3,
  4. Helmut Sinzinger4,
  5. Dietmar Steinbrenner1,
  6. Peter Schmid1
  1. 1
    Center for Cardiovascular Rehabilitation, Stifterstrasse 11, Bad Schallerbach, 4701, Austria
  2. 2
    General Hospital Braunau, Cardiology, Ringstrasse 60, Braunau, 5280, Austria
  3. 3
    University Salzburg, Department of Sport Science and Kinesiology, Hartmannweg 4-6, Hallein, 5400, Austria
  4. 4
    Institute for Diagnosis and Treatment of Atherosclerosis and Lipid Disorders, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, Vienna, 1090, Austria
  1. Correspondence to Robert Berent, robert.berent{at}aon.at

Summary

We describe the case of a patient who developed an acute myocardial infarction (MI) with ST segment elevations simultaneously in anterior and inferior leads during exercise testing. The patient became hypotensive and unconscious, and an anterior MI was suspected. After systemic thrombolytic therapy, blood pressure improved, and the electrocardiogram (ECG) showed no further ST deviations. Thirty minutes later, chest pain and ST segment elevations recurred. A second thrombolytic bolus was administered, after which the electrocardiographic signs of MI promptly resolved. Coronary angiography revealed two severe complex stenotic lesions in the right coronary artery and one in the left anterior descending coronary artery. Percutaneous coronary intervention and stent implantation were performed in both affected coronary vessels. Interpretation of the ECG indicated clear evidence of an acute inferior wall MI. In this particular case, ST segment elevations in V1–V4 were due to the right ventricular involvement.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None.

  • Patient consent: Patient/guardian consent was obtained for publication.