ekg changes and dizziness

  Dear Docs,
    Thanks for this forum.  I recently had an echo (1/5) which indicated "
  no significant abnormalities". 1/17 I went to the emergency room with chest
  pain. The doc at the time said my cardiac enzymes and ekg was normal and
  sent me home. Last week I received the ekg in the mail from the hospital
  and it said nonspecific T wave abnormality. An old inferolateral MI cannot
  be entirely excluded. When compared to EKG ST T changes are more pronounced.
  ." I showed the EKG to my regular doctor and he said it looked OK don't
  worry. My questions are 1. Do I need to worry about an old MI? 2. Are these
  EKG changes consistent with dialated cardiomyopathy? 3. Or does my echo exclude
  that? 4. I felt light headed today. Could that be from a heart problem?
  Thanks, Will Trout
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Dear Will
If your echo was normal (no MI, no cardiomyopathy), and if it was a good quality study, I would believe it over the EKG. The computerized readings on EKGs are often wrong; they are meant to point out any possible diagnosis, not necessarily the correct diagnosis. Lightheadedness could be from an arrhythmia.
I hope this has been useful. I wish you the best of luck. Feel free to write back.
Information provided here is for general purposes only. Specific questions should be addressed to your own doctor. If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.