Paroxysmal Tachycardia Followed by Temporary Inversion of the T Waves

It is now generally recognized that inversion of T waves such as is met with in coronary disease can occur in a number of other conditions also, for example, in myocardial disease due to toxaemia or hypertension, from large doses of digitalis, from the physiological effects of taking cold drinks, as a result of the position of the heart, and even from changes of posture especially in persons of the neuro-circulatory asthenic type.Attention has, however, only recently been given in the literature to the fact that electro- cardiographic features simulating serious coronary disease may in certain cases occur as a transient feature after paroxysmal tachycardia.The condition, furthermore, is of more than mere academic importance, since if not recognized, an erroneous diagnosis of coronary disease may easily be made especially if the attack of paroxysmal tachycardia passes unnoticed or is thought to have been an acute coronary lesion.Either these changes after paroxysmal tachycardia are very rare or it would seem possible that cardiologists have been familiar with their occurrence but have not recorded them.White et al. (1941) in a review of various conditions other than organic disease causing