Evolutionary de Winter pattern: from STEMI to de Winter ECG—a case report

Abstract

The de Winter electrocardiography (ECG) pattern is a sign that implies proximal left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion in patients with chest pain. We report a case of a 34-year-old man with a history of smoking who presented to the local emergency department with a 49 min history of chest pain. The first ECG of the patient indicated that ST-segment elevation was noted in the lead V2–V4; 57 min later, a second ECG revealed a typical de Winter syndrome when the patient was transferred to the emergency chest pain centre of our hospital. A percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed approximately 8 h later because the patient initially refused the PCI. Acute coronary artery angiography showed that the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery was completely occluded. Our case suggests that ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction may evolve in the direction of de Winter, which reflects a coronary thrombus in formation, so the de Winter ECG pattern should not be considered static.