background: passive cigarette smoking is a known cause of a variety of diseases.  however, most of the studies done in this field have focused on its chronic effects on human health.  studies considering the acute effect of smoking on qt dispersion, on the other hand, with its known predictive role in the occurrence ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death are sparse. objectives: this st...

Background: Cardiovascular mortality and morbidity are high in chronic renal failure (CRF) patients. Increased dispersion of QT intervals is known to predispose to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. This study was conducted to assess the effect of hemodialysis (HD) on corrected QT (QTc) intervals and their dispersions (QTd) in chronic hemodialyzed patients. Methods: Fifty-eight p...

Serious ventricular arrhythmias are known to occur in patients with long QT intervals. We describe a case of torsade de pointes occurring in a patient with a prolonged QT interval while taking a 1000 calorie diet, diethylpropion hydrochloride (Tenuate Dospan) and bendrofluazide. In patients with long QT intervals, hypokalaemia and drugs which further delay repolarization may facilitate the deve...

Congeni tal long QT syndrome (LQTS), referred to as a ticking time-bomb is a cause of sudden death in young infants, children and adults. 1 Its prevalence is estimated to be 1 in 2500 to 1 in 10,000 individuals internationally, with no racial predilection. 2 It should be viewed as an unrecognized rather than a rare condition.