KEY QUESTIONS What features differentiate acute pericarditis from ST-elevation myocardial infarction? What are the criteria for diagnosing acute pericarditis? What are the treatment options?
Read More
A 57-Year-Old Female with Shortness of Breath and Weeks of Chest Pain
The patient is a 57-year-old female who presents to urgent care with progressive shortness of breath and chest pain of “several weeks” duration. On exam, she is nonobese, normotensive, slightly tachycardic, and tachypneic with clear lungs and distant heart sounds. View the initial ECG taken and consider what your diagnosis and next steps would be. Resolution of the case is described on the next page.
Read More
A 21-Year-Old Male Presents with Altered Mental Status After a Vehicle Accident
KEY QUESTIONS What phenomenon explains the ST elevations in this ECG? What are the features of this condition? What is the clinical significance of this phenomenon?
Read More
A 77-Year-Old Man Presents with Dyspnea
KEY QUESTIONS What diagnosis explains the widened QRS? What are the electrocardiographic criteria for making this diagnosis? What rule(s) can help diagnose acute myocardial infarction with an ECG like this?
Read More