Pardee’s sign on ECG in acute myocardial infarction

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Johnson Francis 3
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Anterior wall myocardial infarction

Anterior wall myocardial infarction

The convex upwards ST elevation which is classical of acute myocardial infarction was described by Pardee in 1920 and has been called the “Pardee’s sign” [Pardee HEB. An electrocardiographic sign of coronary artery obstruction. Arch Intern Med 1920; 26: 244– 257].  The current ECG show QS complexes in V1 and V2 and poor R waves in V3 and V4. ST segment elevation is maximum in  lead V2. T waves are inverted in leads I, aVl and V1 to V5.

ECG

3 responses to Pardee’s sign on ECG in acute myocardial infarction

  1. jeevan jacob
    April 13, 2009 at 2:45 pm

    dear sir,
    this sign has been a favorite one for so many pg entrance exams…even it has been asked in final year medicine papers..

  2. amal paul
    August 27, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    is this synonymous with the ST elevation that STEMI is attributed to? or is this an atypical finding with some subtle difference to the typical ST elevation in an STEMI?

  3. Johnson Francis
    August 27, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    In the initial phase of STEMI, the ST segment is concave upwards and later on when the T wave gets inverted, ST segment is convex upwards. It was probably this phase that Pardee described in 1920.