Downsloping TP Segment in the Precordial Leads on a Standard 12-lead Electrocardiogram: Suspected Cardiac Impulse-tapping Artifact

Abstract

We herein report an 80-year-old man showing a downsloping TP segment together with an increase in the height of the T wave in the precordial leads on a standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Separately, an 87-year-old woman showed only a downsloping TP segment in the precordial leads on a standard 12-lead ECG. Neither patient reported chest pain or dyspnea when ECGs was obtained. This downsloping TP segment in the precordial leads on the standard 12-lead ECG is thought to be due to a cardiac impulse-tapping artifact. Differential diagnoses are also discussed.