Wellens syndrome: Prospective study of 40 observations

Introduction Wellens syndrome was first described in the early 1980s by Zwann, Wellens, and colleagues, who identified a subset of patients with unstable angina who had specific precordial T-wave changes and subsequently developed a large anterior wall myocardial infarction (MI). Wellens syndrome is also referred to as left anterior descending (LAD) coronary T-wave syndrome. Purpose Highlight the importance of recognizing wellens syndrome in the care of patients. Methods We present a prospective study of 40 patients with Wellens syndome treated between june 2017 and december 2018 at The CNMS Hospital (Algiers). The following parameters were considered in this analysis: Age, gender, cardiovascular risk factors, characteristic of chest pain, Electrocardiographic aspects, Enzymatic profile, location of the coronary lesion, The delay between hospitalization and revascularization. Results There was a clear predominance of men with a sex ratio of 3 men for a woman, and we noticed that the prevalence increased after the age of 60, the main risk factors found in our patients were smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes mellitus, 3/4 of patients complained of typical anginal pain, the most common electrical aspect was Wellens syndrome type 1, the most frequent sites were the proximal and medium left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD), 50 per cent of the patients underwent revascularization within the first 24 hours of hospitalization with active stent placement, while 80 per cent had, within the first 48 hours. Conclusion Wellens syndrome represents a critical LAD disease. Recognition of this ECG abnormality is very important because this syndrome represents a preinfarction stage of coronary artery disease (CAD) that often progresses to an extensive infarction.