Key result
General anaesthesia in a healthy male athlete triggered pronounced ST elevation and deep inferolateral T-wave inversion that resolved spontaneously, mimicking inherited cardiac pathology.
Case Report (n=1)
This case highlights the clinical challenge of differentiating benign repolarization anomalies common in high-level athletes from inherited cardiac pathologies like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy during general anesthesia.
Anaesthesia may induce transient ECG changes mimicking pathology in athletes; leaves open athlete-specific peri-operative ECG protocols.
This case report describes an asymptomatic healthy male professional athlete who underwent general anaesthesia for a routine orthopaedic operation. Peri-procedure, pronounced ST elevation suggestive of myocardial ischaemia manifested on the electrocardiogram lasting for four hours post-procedure, upon which the athlete developed deep and diffuse inferolateral T-wave inversion. These changes resolved spontaneously and the patient remained clinically stable throughout. This case demonstrates the clinical conundrum facing anaesthetists attempting to differentiate between repolarisation anomalies that are commonly observed in high-level athletes and those of inherited cardiac pathology, namely hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes.
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Dzendrowskyj et al. (2013) conducted a case report in Repolarisation abnormalities (n=1). General anaesthesia was evaluated. General anaesthesia in a healthy male athlete triggered pronounced ST elevation and deep inferolateral T-wave inversion that resolved spontaneously, mimicking inherited cardiac pathology.
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