Chest Pain Patient Diagnosed with Rare Cardiac Anomaly

Broken Heart A rare diagnosis for chest pain patient By Brendan Mulcahy, DO, PA-C, NRP; Haley Delligatti, BS, NRP & Talo Capuzzi, NRP An ALS crew is dispatched for a 60-year-old male in cardiac arrest. On arrival, the crew finds the patient apneic, pulseless and cool to the touch with obvious signs of death. The patient’s wife is visibly distraught and unable to present a detailed history to the crew. The patient is confirmed asystolic on the monitor and the crew pronounces him dead on arrival. The crew leaves the scene and returns to service. Shortly after returning to service, the crew is dispatched to the same address, this time for a 60-year-old female complaining of chest pain. It’s the wife of the decedent. On arrival, the crew finds the woman in obvious distress over the loss of her husband. She describes suffering a sudden onset of crushing chest pain. The pain was retrosternal and did not radiate. She describes the pain as pressure-like, rating it a 5 on a scale from 1–10. The woman denies feeling any associated shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, lightheadedness, dizziness, fevers and recent illness. Her past medical history is significant for back pain, arthritis and diabetes. Physical exam reveals an emotionally distraught 60-year-old female. The crew next performs a complete cardiac workup on the patient. Her initial vitals are a pulse of 100, blood pressure 190/100 mmHg, oxygen saturation of 93% on room air...
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Patient Care Cardiac & Resuscitation Source Type: news