The Importance of Semi Criteria in ECG Interpretation

The American College of Cardiology published its expert consensus on the evaluation of chest pain in the ED. It said, semi ECG criteria will miss a significant minority of patients who have acute coronary occlusion. A study by Smith and Myers found that 40% of occlusion MI's didn't meet STEMI negative criteria for preventable delay to a perfusion. So when you see a patient with chest pain but their ECG may or may not show an acute coronary Occlusion (STEMI) diagnosis, don't write it off as false positive. The real question is what does the patient have? We'll be updating you in the EM cases newsletter that you can sign up for