Wellens' syndrome

We report a case of quite rare cause of thoracic pain suspected by emergency physician as Wellens' syndrome. Wellens' syndrome is a pattern of electrocardiographic T-wave changes associated with critical, proximal left anterior descending artery (LAD). This syndrome is about 10-15% of all unstable angina in emergency department (ED). The cardiologic consult was obtained in ED and it was not conclusive for a Wellens' syndrome, so that the diagnostistic planning was wrong. The authors point out the importance of this syndrome in ED and the necessity of an urgent angiographic study as every acute coronary syndrome presented in ED. We remark the importance in ED to recognize these changes associated with critical LAD obstruction and the high risk for anterior wall myocardial infarction.