Question:medium
ECG is poor at detecting ischaemia in areas supplied by?
ECG is poor at detecting ischaemia in areas supplied by?
Show Hint
Which wall of the left ventricle has no dedicated standard ECG lead?
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Left anterior descending artery
- Left circumflex artery
- Left coronary artery
- Right coronary artery
Show Solution
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
The 12-lead ECG is not equally good at seeing every part of the heart. The leads are arranged to look at the front, the side and the bottom of the left ventricle, which means certain regions are poorly represented. The question is which coronary territory falls into that blind spot.
Each artery maps to specific leads. The left anterior descending feeds the front wall and is captured by the chest leads. The right coronary artery feeds the inferior wall and shows up in the inferior leads. The left main is a short trunk that gives off both the descending and circumflex branches. The left circumflex, however, supplies the posterolateral wall, and no standard lead points directly at this surface.
Because of this gap, ischaemia in the circumflex distribution often causes only minor reciprocal changes or none at all on the routine tracing, making it the most commonly overlooked territory. Therefore the ECG is poorest at detecting ischaemia supplied by the left circumflex artery.
\[\boxed{\text{Left circumflex artery}}\]
Each artery maps to specific leads. The left anterior descending feeds the front wall and is captured by the chest leads. The right coronary artery feeds the inferior wall and shows up in the inferior leads. The left main is a short trunk that gives off both the descending and circumflex branches. The left circumflex, however, supplies the posterolateral wall, and no standard lead points directly at this surface.
Because of this gap, ischaemia in the circumflex distribution often causes only minor reciprocal changes or none at all on the routine tracing, making it the most commonly overlooked territory. Therefore the ECG is poorest at detecting ischaemia supplied by the left circumflex artery.
\[\boxed{\text{Left circumflex artery}}\]
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