Winter's Sign

Winter sign

Winter's sign is a change in the ECG in which the ST interval and T wave become more negative in leads V1-V3 and shift upward in leads I, aVL, V4-V6. This sign may be due to impaired blood supply to the myocardium, ischemia, myocarditis, and other reasons.

Winter's sign

This sign was described by American cardiologist James Carter Winter in 1929. He drew attention to the fact that in patients with acute myocardial infarction, changes on the ECG may not be as pronounced as in those who suffer from chronic coronary heart disease.

In this case, the ST interval and T waves may be more negative and shift upward in the precordial leads, where they are usually positive. At the same time, in standard leads (I, II, III) they can be positive or negative.

Thus, Winter's sign reflects changes in the electrical activity of the myocardium, which may indicate impaired blood supply and ischemia of the heart muscle.

However, it should be noted that in acute myocardial infarction, Winter’s sign is not the only and not always reliable sign. It can only be used as one of the additional diagnostic criteria.

Winter Peter J.K. - American cardiac surgeon and scientist, discoverer of the Winter sign phenomenon in dissecting aortic aneurysm. Since 1960, co-author of many scientific studies. He radically developed techniques for performing heart surgeries. In the United States today, operations to correct the defect are performed using Winter’s methods. Influenced the development of the science of cardiovascular diseases.