T-wave depletion and bradycardia possibly secondary to acute pancreatitis: Review of the literature

Abstract

Acute pancreatitis has frequently been reported to be associated with transient electrocardiographic changes mimicking myocardial infarction despite normal epicardial coronary arteries (1, 2). Herein, we report T-wave inversion together with bradycardia secondary to acute pancreatitis in a patient without coronary artery disease (CAD). CASE REPORTA 47-year-old female patient was admitted to the Emergency Department of our hospital with epigastric pain and vomiting, which had started almost 12 hours before. Palpation of the abdomen revealed epigastric tenderness, whereas bowel sounds were hypoactive during auscultation. The rest of the physical examination was normal. She was not using any drugs. She denied alcohol use and smoking. Her vital signs were as follows: blood pressure 135/86 mmHg, heart rate 42 beats/min and temperature 36°C. Her laboratory findings were: hematocrit 42.4%, white blood cells 8200/ml, glucose 98 mg/dl (reference range: 70-105 mg/dl), total bilirubin 3.94 mg/dl (reference range: 0.2-1.0 mg/dl), direct bilirubin 3.