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CASE REPORT
Scuba diving, acute left anterior descending artery occlusion and normal ECG
  1. Sébastien Xavier Doll1,
  2. Fabio Rigamonti2,
  3. Marco Roffi2,
  4. Stéphane Noble2
  1. 1Adult Intensive Care, Geneva Teaching Hospital (HUG), Geneva, Switzerland
  2. 2Invasive Cardiology Unit, Geneva Teaching Hospital (HUG), Geneva, Switzerland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sébastien Xavier Doll, sebastien.doll{at}hcuge.ch

Summary

We report the case of an acute proximal occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary (LAD) artery following a scuba diving decompression accident and associated with normal ECG. Following uneventful thromboaspiration and coronary stenting, the patient was discharged on day  4 with secondary preventative therapies. A transthoracic echocardiography performed at this point showed a complete recovery compared with an initial localised akinesia involving the anterior and apical portion of the left ventricle upon admission. This case highlights that significant acute coronary lesions involving the LAD can occur without any ECG anomaly. The presence of acute and persistent angina associated with troponin elevation should prompt physicians to consider coronary angiography without delay, independently of the ECG results.

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