Cardiac extrinsic compression due to abdominal distension as a cause of electrocardiographic abnormality in a critically ill patient

Salvador-Casabón, Juan Manuel ; Escota-Villanueva, Javier ; Casanova-Esteban, Paola ; Ortiz-Giménez, Ramón ; Cantero-Lozano, Daniel (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Pelegrín-Juana, María

Resumen: Anomalies in the ST segment, especially ST-segment elevation, require the ruling out of possible etiologies such as myocardial ischemia or pericarditis. However, other non-cardiac disorders such as increases in intra-abdominal and intrathoracic pressure, may cause ST-segment elevation as well and should be considered as possible etiologies due to the poor prognosis they imply in the clinical evolution of the patient. This is especially important in critically ill patients. In this respect, we herein present a case in which the increase in intra-abdominal pressure and thoracic cavity elevation due to gastric and intestinal distension, which was not present in the first CT, provoked a cardiac and coronary compression resulting in T-shaped dome wave, a QT prolongation and ST segment elevation in the inferior leads of the electrocardiogram, the patient did not present at the time of admission, ruling out other possible etiologies such as ionic imbalance or acute ischemia.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.31083/j.jmcm.2020.03.826

Año: 2020

Publicado en: Journal of molecular and clinical medicine 3, 3 (2020), 87-90
ISSN: 2616-3632

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Area Medicina (Dpto. Medicina, Psiqu. y Derm.)