Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

Instructive ECGs in Emergency Medicine Clinical Content

Associate Editors:
— Pendell Meyers & Ken Grauer (2018)
— Jesse McLaren & Emre Aslanger (2022)
— Willy Frick (2024)

editors

Right Bundle Branch Block with Subtle ST Elevation: LAD 95% occluded

An 81 yo woman presented at 2 AM to the ED with severe substernal chest pressure. This ECG was recorded:


There is sinus rhythm with a PVC, and Right Bundle Branch Block (RBBB). Normally there is no ST elevation with RBBB. In fact, normally, there are inverted T waves (discordant to a positive QRS due to the large R’ wave, of the rSR’) and from 0-1 mm of ST depression. Any ST elevation in V2 or V3 is very suspicious for LAD occlusion in a patient with chest pain.

The cath lab was activated, but the interventionalist disagreed with the interpretation. A stat echocardiogram revealed anterior wall motion abnormality and the patient was taken for angiography which revealed a 95% ostial thrombotic LAD lesion. She went for immediate coronary bypass surgery.

A similar case was posted on January 12, 2010. You can search for all the RBBB in the search box, or any of a great number of search terms to find other ECGs

Previous Article

Diabetic Ketoacidosis: is there hypokalemia?

Next Article

Deep and widespread ST depression signifies high risk coronary lesion

View Comments (3)
    1. Steve Smith

      Look closely. This is NOT ST elevation. Rather it is the end of a long QRS. If you find the true end of the QRS, you will see the ST segment is isoelectric. The T-wave inversion is normal given the abnormal repol of RBBB: it goes opposite (discordant) to the majority of the QRS (which is that positive deflection which you thought was ST elevation)

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *