If ekg shows that i have had a heart attack, how come i didn't now it

[larue1960]

I was scheduled for knee surgery last week and the nurse performed an ekg and asked me when I had had a heart attack. I told her not to my knowledge, she said that it showed that I had had one and she performed several ekg's and they all showed the same. What does this mean?  Should I see a cardologist

[CCF HeartMD-1]

Hey there,
Yes, sometimes people have "silent" heart attacks and have no idea and we can tell by their EKG by seeing what we call a q-wave in 2/3 leads on your EKG and we can usually even tell what part of the heart was involved.  I would recommend that you see a cardiologist because he/she can then confirm that the EKG is correct and depending if you are having symptoms or not initiate further testing or medications if needed.  Do you have any risk factors such as high cholesterol, diabetes or high blood pressure and how old are you?

Hope this helps.  

[is_something_wrong]

It's strange, so does my EKG's say. But I'm 29 and echo completely rules this out. So I would do as the cardiologist here told you, see a cardiologist and do further testing. I have those Q waves too (in the inferior leads, most prominent in III but also in F). I guess this is a normal variant in some people. At least my cardiologist told me so.

If you are anxious, I'm sure you can mail the EKG to a cardiologist, before he/she starts further testing, I think they have a sharper eye for EKG changes than your nurse, EKG machine or primary care physician. It's possibly a good idea anyway, so he/she can compare to the EKG he will register. The machine only "thinks" like this:

If Q wave (the first negative spike on the complex) is deeper than 2 mm and wider than 0,04 sec (usually 1 mm at normal paper speed) in a pair of leads, diagnosis = Old MI.

A cardiologist can look for other changes that may or may not indicate old MI.

[larue1960]

I do have high blood pressure and I am 50 years old

[DavesMom]

Hi,

I know this is easy for me to say, but try not to fret too much about this. As the doctor said, you may need further testing because an EKG can be incorrect.  I had the same experience as you - an EKG showed a prior heart attack but a stress test showed that I'd never had one after all.

Best of luck!