Hypoxia and Medicine

EKG T wave changes and Myocardial Ischemia?

My previous ekg results: borderline ekg,anterior T wave changes non especific unconfirmed analysis, and my doctor said everything was fine and didn't send me to a cardiologist. Now, 6 month later i have a new ekg as a preoperative test and result are: borderline abnormal, T wave changes possible due to Myocardial Ischemia. Unconfirmed Analysis. I am very nervous because i was ready to have a plastic surgery in 10 days, and i got this on my ekg. I have levels of anxiety when i got tested. I have no symptoms, just some palpitations when i am close to get my period and doctors told me that could be due to PMS... i would like to know if i have to concern, because i have to wait 3 days to get results from the anestesist. Do i really have to fear a Myocardial Ischemia? I am very confuse, because doctors office assistant told me that readings from the machine is not the answer, but yes the doctor interpretation. I appreciated if somebody have the right answer to me. I excercise 2-3 t a week,

Public Comments

1. Your cardiologist needs to be the one to read and interpret your EKG. Here is some general information. NONSPECIFIC ST-T WAVE CHANGES — Nonspecific ST-T wave abnormalities are very common and may be seen in any limb or precordial lead of the electrocardiogram. The changes may be seen in all of the limb and precordial leads (diffuse changes), or they may be present only in the inferior, lateral, or anterior leads. ST-T WAVE CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH SPECIFIC DISEASE STATES — Specific patterns of ST-T wave changes may be seen in association with various disease states. Ischemia — ST-T wave abnormalities that are suggestive of subendocardial myocardial ischemia may be present diffusely in many leads; more commonly they are localized to the leads associated with the involved region of the myocardium. Typically there are ST segment changes associated with T wave flattening or inversion; isolated T wave changes are not usually seen with ischemia.
2. I am not a doctor but for many years I was told that I had an abnormal resting EKG, but no doctor ever was concerned about it. At age 50, I had a stress EKG and was told that when exercising my EKG was normal. SInce then, I had a nuclear EKG with same results. The cardiologist said there was no need for concern if EKG becomes normal when exercising. Many people have perfectly normal EKG's when resting that become abnormal during exercise. THAT is when the cardiologists require further tests.
3. No one on this site can give you the answer. "The answer" needs to be interpruted as part of a complete history and physical exam. Any test result can only be interpruted in the context of the situation. A reading of possible myocardial ischemia in a person who isn't actively having symptoms of a heart attack is meaningless. Thats why machines have not replaced doctors. A machine has no common sense. OK what I can tell you. T wave changes are common. On a screening EKG they sometimes relate to mild enlargement of the heart, they sometimes relate to electrolytes, they sometimes relate to nothing. A screening EKG is used to tell us if you already had a heart attack. In that case we would see Q waves, a totally different thing than the T wave. Some times people had a silent heart attack and a screening EKG helps us pick this up. A screening EKG has NO PREDICTIVE VALUE, The question which help predict if you are at risk for heart disease are, ... Are you as smoker? Are you a diabetic? Do you have a family history of heart disease? Did someone in your family have a heart attack before age 45? Do you exercise? Do you have high cholesterol? Do you get chest pain or pressure with physical exertion? How many flights of stairs can you walk up before getting out of breath? You answers to these questions relate to your risk. With increasing amounts of risk we may do tests for heart disease, ... 2-D echocardiogram stress test heart catheterization. Relax, set it aside, forget about it. I'm sorry they even showed you the machine reading. Much ado about nothing.