Small Bowel Obstruction Mimicking Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

We present a case of a 42-year-old female who presented to our institution with a small bowel obstruction and had emergent surgical decompression. Thirteen days postoperatively, the patient became tachycardic and had worsening epigastric pain. Electrocardiogram showed significant ST-segment elevations in leads II, III, aVF, and V3-V6, suggesting the possibility of acute inferolateral myocardial infarction. Subsequent workup revealed the cause of the ST-elevations to be due to recurrent small bowel obstruction. Although intra-abdominal causes of ST-elevation have been reported, our case may be the first to be associated with small bowel obstruction.