A man in his sixties with acute chest pain.

Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen

Luftambulanseavdelingen, Oslo universitetssykehus, og, Institutt for klinisk medisin, Universitetet i Oslo, og, Giftinformasjonen, Folkehelseinstituttet.

Published: September 2023

Background: Chest pain is a frequent symptom of acute myocardial infarction, but the cause is not always coronary atherothrombosis. We present a case where the patient himself had made a correct non-cardiac diagnosis, but this was initially overlooked by the doctor.

Case Presentation: A man with a history of cardiac infarction was admitted with acute chest pain and troponin elevation. Electrocardiogram suggested ST elevations, echocardiography showed a possible slight hypokinesia, and we primarily suspected an acute coronary syndrome. However, invasive coronary angiography was negative and a primary acute myocardial infarction was less likely. A renewed interview revealed that the patient had worked with a propane burner indoors without adequate ventilation. The patient himself suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. Arterial blood gas showed HbCO 27.4 %, which was unfortunately overlooked initially. The patient had carbon monoxide poisoning with symptoms of dizziness, hand ataxia and myocardial ischaemia. He received 100 % oxygen and HbCO was normalised.

Interpretation: The imbalance between oxygen demand and supply resulted in a type 2 cardiac infarction. A thorough medical history is crucial for correct diagnosis but can unfortunately be missed on a busy shift. This case illustrates the importance of the patient's own diagnostic assumption.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.4045/tidsskr.23.0113DOI Listing

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