Question:
Has anyone heard of estrogen replacement causing assymptomatic ST
segment elevation on exercise stress testing. I was out to dinner with
a collaegu and his wife happended to mention that she had an abnormal
EST with ST elevation that was ascribed to Estrogen replacement. This
was in a 49 year old postmenopausal white female.
Answer:
Check out the article by Stephen P. Glasser and Pamela I. Clark in the
July 1988, Vol. 14, No. 8, issue of Practical Cardiology, pp 85-90.
It does a great job of explaining the causes of false-positive responses
to exercise testing, which are more common among women.
Estrogen is similar to digoxin in that it can cause ST segment
abnormalities. Glasser and Clark reported findings which stated
"ST-segment response was not dependent solely on estrogen
phase....Rather progesterone fluxes were implicated in the ECG
abnormalities observed."
Do you have a title for this reference? Medline can't find it from
this info.
