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What Does This ECG Report Indicate?
Question: I just had a routine physical (first time in 5 years). Had an ECG (first time ever) and I was referred to a cardiologist. I am a 55 yr old caucasion male and I regularly work out (weight training, interval distance running, and high intensity workout programs like PX90). Resting heart rate is 54. I am 6'0", 200 lbs and I am in good shape.
The ECG from the GP who wants me to see a cardiologist showed "probable septal infarct" and minor inferior repolarization disturbance, consider ischemia, flat or low negative T in aVF with negative T in III.
Is it possible that the ECG is not accurate?
The ECG from the GP who wants me to see a cardiologist showed "probable septal infarct" and minor inferior repolarization disturbance, consider ischemia, flat or low negative T in aVF with negative T in III.
Is it possible that the ECG is not accurate?
Brief Answer:
The EKG is likely a false positive
Detailed Answer:
Hi, thank you for using Healthcare Magic. It is very possible that the EKG is giving results that look positive for coronary artery disease (CAD) but that you don't have it- in other words, a false positive.
My suspicion is that with your aggressive work out program and slow heart rate, that most likely you have "athlete's heart" which can often give an abnormal EKG suggesting CAD. You don't report any symptoms I would associate with CAD, and certainly if you had it you would have been experiencing them during your work outs (chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, cold sweats).
However, because your EKG looks abnormal and you are in a risk group for CAD (age and gender), your GP has done the right thing in referring you to a cardiologist.
What will happen next is you will get a stress test. Be sure that this is a stress test using an imaging procedure. This could be either with an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or nuclear medicine. Because your EKG is abnormal, the stress test cannot be done with only a heart tracing as it will continue to give a false positive. Imaging is necessary to see if any cardiac motion abnormalities occur with stress, which is another way of diagnosing possible CAD.
If that test is positive, then the next test is usually the heart XXXXXXX or angiogram, where a catheter is put in the heart through the femoral blood vessel, XXXXXXX is injected, then x-rays are taken of the heart and the coronary arteries. I suspect this is not a test you will need.
Assuming everything turns out okay, it would be a good idea to carry a copy of your EKG with you at all times, so that if there are future problems it can be compared to the new one to see if any significant changes occur.
EKG abnormalities can be confusing when someone has an athlete's heart. My brother, who is your age and also athletic, did a voluntary stress test to see how strong his heart was. It turned out that the stress test was falsely positive because of his athletic heart. He then had to see a cardiologist and undergo an imaging stress test to be sure it was not CAD (which it wasn't). This is most likely what is happening in your case.
Hope this answers your query. If you have other questions, I would be happy to answer them.
The EKG is likely a false positive
Detailed Answer:
Hi, thank you for using Healthcare Magic. It is very possible that the EKG is giving results that look positive for coronary artery disease (CAD) but that you don't have it- in other words, a false positive.
My suspicion is that with your aggressive work out program and slow heart rate, that most likely you have "athlete's heart" which can often give an abnormal EKG suggesting CAD. You don't report any symptoms I would associate with CAD, and certainly if you had it you would have been experiencing them during your work outs (chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, cold sweats).
However, because your EKG looks abnormal and you are in a risk group for CAD (age and gender), your GP has done the right thing in referring you to a cardiologist.
What will happen next is you will get a stress test. Be sure that this is a stress test using an imaging procedure. This could be either with an echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) or nuclear medicine. Because your EKG is abnormal, the stress test cannot be done with only a heart tracing as it will continue to give a false positive. Imaging is necessary to see if any cardiac motion abnormalities occur with stress, which is another way of diagnosing possible CAD.
If that test is positive, then the next test is usually the heart XXXXXXX or angiogram, where a catheter is put in the heart through the femoral blood vessel, XXXXXXX is injected, then x-rays are taken of the heart and the coronary arteries. I suspect this is not a test you will need.
Assuming everything turns out okay, it would be a good idea to carry a copy of your EKG with you at all times, so that if there are future problems it can be compared to the new one to see if any significant changes occur.
EKG abnormalities can be confusing when someone has an athlete's heart. My brother, who is your age and also athletic, did a voluntary stress test to see how strong his heart was. It turned out that the stress test was falsely positive because of his athletic heart. He then had to see a cardiologist and undergo an imaging stress test to be sure it was not CAD (which it wasn't). This is most likely what is happening in your case.
Hope this answers your query. If you have other questions, I would be happy to answer them.
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Shanthi.E
Answered by
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