Comparative study on electrocardiograms and serological examinations of acute pulmonary embolism and acute non-ST elevation myocardial infarction.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of electrocardiograms (ECGs) and serological examinations in the differential diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism (APE) and acute non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) in order to reduce the rate of clinical misdiagnosis.

Methods: The clinical data of 37 patients with APE and 103 patients with NSTEMI admitted to our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The differences in the clinical manifestations, ECGs, myocardial zymograms, D-dimers, and troponin (cTn) of the two groups were compared.

Results: In the patients with APE, the main symptom-found in 25 cases (67.56%)-was dyspnea, while in the patients with NSTEMI, the main symptom-found in 52 cases (50.49%)-was chest tightness. The incidences of sinus tachycardia and S Q T in the group of patients with APE were higher than in the group of patients with NSTEMI, and the difference was statistically significant (p < .05). There was no statistical significance in the difference of aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the two groups (p > .05), although there was a statistically significant difference of creatine kinase (CK) and the creatine kinase isoenzyme-MB (CK-MB) in the two groups (p < .05). The levels of D-dimers and cTn were increased in both groups, but the level of D-dimers in the group of patients with APE was higher than that in the group of patients with NSTEMI.

Conclusion: With the occurrence of clinical manifestations like dyspnea, chest tightness, chest pain, and palpitation of unknown causes, the possibility of APE and NSTEMI should be considered.