Loading...
Do you routinely track down the prehospital electrocardiogram (ECG) and compare it to tracings obtained in the emergency department (ED)? Researchers in Québec compared prehospital and first ED ECGs for 1209 patients who ultimately received diagnoses of cardiac disorders, including ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-STEMI (NSTEMI), unstable angina, acute coronary syndrome, stable angina, congestive heart failure, pericarditis, and arrhythmias. Two American board-certified cardiologists reviewed all ECGs for the presence of STEMI, ST-segment depression, and arrhythmias.
Among 82 patients eventually diagnosed with STEMI, cardiologists identified 69 on both prehospital and initial ED ECG and another 2 (3%) only on the preho…