Approach to ECGs
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UMMC Cases Part I: Three ECGs That Reward a Second Look
A 62-year-old man presents with chest pain during a busy emergency department shift. His triage ECG is interpreted by the computer as showing ST-segment depression and possible ischemia. The tracing…
ECG Hallucinations: The Rhythms You See and the Rhythms You Miss
A patient presents with a regular narrow-complex tachycardia. The computerized interpretation identifies sinus tachycardia, and the rhythm appears superficially compatible with that diagnosis when lead II is reviewed. However, closer…
ECG Hallucinations: When Irregular Is Not Atrial Fibrillation
A 69-year-old man presents with chest pain. His ECG is interpreted by the computer as atrial fibrillation, a diagnosis that could significantly alter his evaluation and long-term management. The rhythm…
ECG Hallucinations: When S1Q3T3 Misleads
A 51-year-old truck driver presents to the ED after a brief syncopal episode at a rest stop. It is the middle of summer, his truck’s air conditioning is not working,…
The Rhythm Behind the Irregularity
A 69-year-old woman presenting with sepsis gets the following ECG for tachycardia while febrile and shivering. The baseline is poor, atrial activity is difficult to identify, and the computer interpretation…
A Closer Look at the J Point
A 72-year-old man undergoes a prehospital 12-lead ECG. The tracing appears to show ST segment elevation in leads III, aVF, and aVR, raising concern for an inferior STEMI or high-risk…
Four ECGs Hiding a High-Risk Coronary Pattern
A 56-year-old man presents with 1 week of concerning chest pain and shortness of breath. His ECG does not meet conventional STEMI criteria, but it shows subtle ST-segment abnormalities in…
Three High Risk ECGs and the Right Next Move
A 34 year old man presents with acute chest pain radiating to the left arm associated with diaphoresis. He has hyperlipidemia and a family history of early coronary disease. The…
Post-Arrest STEMI: Cath Lab or Caution?
A 72-year-old man is brought to the ED after witnessed cardiac arrest. Bystander CPR was started quickly, EMS found a nonshockable rhythm, epinephrine was given, and ROSC was achieved. Forty…
UMEM Cases, Part 3: When the Diagnosis Seems Clear and When It Is Not
A 71-year-old man presents with shortness of breath, and his ECG is initially read as a junctional rhythm. On later review, it is even mistaken for atrial fibrillation. But the…
UMEM Cases, Part 2: When the ECG Conceals and When It Reveals
An 81-year-old woman presents with lightheadedness and marked bradycardia. Her ECG shows more P waves than QRS complexes, but the mechanism is not immediately clear. The key question is whether…
Subtle ST Abnormalities and a Difficult Cath Lab Decision
A 60-year-old man presents with chest pain that seems a little better after belching, but his clinician is not reassured. The initial ED ECG shows subtle ST-segment abnormalities, the computer…
Preexcitation Pitfalls (Part 4): Potpourri Cases & Final Teaching Points
A 49-year-old man arrives with palpitations and chest discomfort. The monitor shows an irregular, wide-complex tachycardia with varying morphology and rates nearing 250 to 300 bpm. The team debates polymorphic…
Preexcitation Pitfalls (Part 2): Wide, Regular, Fast…Treat It Like VT
A young man with recurrent palpitations presents to the emergency department hemodynamically stable during an episode. The arrival ECG shows a wide complex, regular tachycardia and the computer interpretation calls…
Preexcitation Pitfalls (Part 1): The “Inferior STEMI” That Isn’t
A critically ill 38-year-old man presents hypotensive, pale, and diaphoretic with abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. Upright chest X-ray shows free air under the diaphragm, and the patient is headed…
Baltimore City EMS ECGs: Pitfalls and Mimics (Part 1)
A 68-year-old man is brought to the emergency department by EMS with acute chest discomfort. The following prehospital ECG was obtained and shows concave ST elevation across multiple leads. The…
Three More ECG Pitfalls That Punish Anchoring Bias
A 51-year-old man with lung cancer presents with shortness of breath and tachycardia. The arrival ECG shows an S1Q3 pattern and seems to support a familiar diagnosis that would normally…
Four ECG Pitfalls That Punish Anchoring Bias
A 43-year-old woman with sharp left-sided chest pain and minimal cardiac risk factors has an initial ECG that is not diagnostic for STEMI. She looks stable, but one feature on…
Dr. Mattu’s 5 Favorite ECG Cases of 2025
A 68-year-old man presents after syncope with profound bradycardia. The ECG shows a very slow ventricular rate with high-grade AV block. The reflex move is to focus only on pacing,…
Reciprocal Depression in aVL: The Case for Serial ECGs
A 62-year-old man presents to the emergency department with acute chest pain associated with diaphoresis. He has cardiac risk factors including tobacco use. An initial 12-lead ECG is obtained on…
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