Wellens' syndrome over the past three decades

Wellen’s Syndrome: A Rare Case

Wellen’s syndrome is associated with critical stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Based on the electrocardiography (ECG) pattern, Wellen’s syndrome can be classified into type 1 (deeply inverted T-waves, mainly in lead V2 and V3) or type 2 (biphasic T-waves). T-wave abnormalities are often also found in V1 and V4 and rarely in V5 and V6. The pattern of ECG changes correlates with proximal left anterior descending artery stenosis. This characteristic ECG pattern is a sign of impending myocardial infarction and is equivalent to ST-elevated myocardial infarction. Often, these subtle findings in ECG get misinterpreted or the severity associated with this goes unrecognized. Hence, for emergency physicians, it is important to recognize such uncharacteristic ECG changes for better and timely management of patients. We present this case of Wellen’s pattern in which the coronary lesion was in the left circumflex coronary artery, right coronary artery, and diagonal-1.

Two case reports of Wellens' syndrome

Wellens’ syndrome is characterised by particular changes in electrocardiogram (ECG) precordial lead T-waves accompanied by proximal stenosis of the left anterior descending (LAD) artery. Two cases of electrocardiographic changes associated with Wellens’ syndrome are presented here. Case 1, a 55-year-old female, was transferred to the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University with intermittent and laborious angina pectoris. Her first ECG on admission revealed T-wave inversion in leads V1–V3 and biphasic T-waves in V4. Case 2, an 85-year-old female, presented with dyspnoea and paroxysmal chest pain. Her admission ECG displayed asymmetrical T-wave inversion in leads V1–V3, I, and aVL, and depressed ST segments in leads V2–V5. In this patient, drug-eluting stents were placed on a LAD artery lesion and right coronary artery occlusion. The potential of ECGs to aid decision-making in severe myocardial infarction is straightforward, particularly in patients with characteristic ECGs, however, Wellens’ syndrome has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and the ECG patterns may manifest itself persistently over a period of weeks. Therefore, ECG parameters should be combined with coronary angiography to confirm the presence of lesions.