Case Reports in Emergency Medicine (Jan 2019)

A Rare Presentation of a Rare Entity: Wellens Syndrome with Subtle Terminal T Wave Changes

  • Mohammed J. Arisha,
  • Ahmad Hallak,
  • Ahmad Khan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/1582030
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2019

Abstract

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Wellens syndrome is an electrocardiographic (ECG) pattern involving T waves in precordial leads that was first described in 1982 among a group of patients presenting with unstable angina suggestive of critical stenosis of the proximal left anterior descending (LAD) coronary. It is crucial for emergency physicians and internists to be able to recognize these patterns, as they occur in the symptom-free periods and represent a pre-infarction state that needs early intervention. Type A, which is characterized by biphasic T waves, mainly in V2 and V3, poses a significant challenge to recognize the pattern, and failure to do so can lead to devastating outcome. We report a case of type A Wellens syndrome with subtle T wave changes that went unnoticed during the initial assessment and led to start off on a wrong foot.