A 40 year old with nonspecific symptoms including dizziness
A 40 year old with nonspecific symptoms including dizziness.What do you notice about the ECG?There is a very short QT interval. This is often found in hypercalcemia. See Ken Grauer ' s comments below for detail.Thus, the patient ' s chemistry was done and revealed ionized hypercalcemia of 6.3 mg/dL (normal 4.4 - 5.2)Followup: he was found to have hyperparathyroidism===================================MY Comment, by KEN GRAUER, MD (9/12/2023):===================================Today ' s ECG is remarkable for an uncommon but important finding that we periodically review, because it otherwise is all-too-easy to overlook. For example — Did YOU notice the short QTc interval in today ’s tracing?PEARL #1: The BEST way to ensure that potentially important subtle findings (such as the short QTc in today ' s case) are not overlooked — is to BE systematic in your approach to ECG interpretation. Regardless of whether you follow my system or prefer your own system that you ' ve developed over time — one KEY is to always look at Intervals ( = the PR interval — QRS duration — the QTc interval) at an early point in the process. The reason to always look at intervals early — is that seeing an abnormal (or changing) PR interval — or, a...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
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