[Isolated right ventricular acute myocardial infarction mimicking anterior infarction]

Abstract

Isolated right ventricular acute myocardial infarction is rare and its presentation can sometimes mimic an anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. We reported two cases of isolated right ventricular acute myocardial infarction presenting with a ST-elevation in anterior leads. The first case was admitted for an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. The patient died from neurologic consequences of the cardiac arrest, despite a successful prehospital thrombolysis, followed by a percutaneous angioplasty of the right coronary artery. The second case occurred after a complex percutaneous angioplasty of the right coronary artery, complicated by a total occlusion of a right marginal branch. These two cases illustrate the limits of the ECG for the diagnosis of isolated right ventricular acute infarction, and the difficulties of the differential diagnosis with anterior infarction, which may determine the treatment and the prognosis.

Keywords: Right Ventricular Infarction; ST-elevation myocardial infarction; infarctus aigu du myocarde; infarctus du ventricule droit; right ventricle; sus décalage ST.