BACKGROUND: Several antipsychotic agents are known to prolong the QT interval in a dose dependent manner. Corrected QT interval (QTc) exceeding a threshold value of 450 ms may be associated with an increased risk of life threatening arrhythmias. Antipsychotic agents are often given in combination with other psychotropic drugs, such as antidepressants, that may also contribute to QT prolongation...

Resting ECGs were recorded in 29 patients with angina pectoris before, during and after treatment with prenylamine 180 mg daily. The QT interval became significantly prolonged after one week of treatment. The prolongation persisted as long as therapy was continued, which was up to 6 months. After withdrawal of treatment the QT interval returned to normal within 2 weeks. In this study no serious...

We describe eight patients treated for angina with prenylamine who developed life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias after QT interval prolongation. When prenylamine administration was stopped QT interval shortened to within normal values, while the ventricular arrhythmias were controlled by a temporary ventricular pacemaker and disappeared after several days. We stress the importance of surve...

AIMS Significant differences between dogs and humans have been observed in the concentration-QTc effect relationship of compounds with known pro-arrhythmic properties. These findings suggest that interspecies differences must be considered when evaluating drug effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a model-based approach to assess the risk of QTc prolongation for thre...

The goal of the present study was to examine the utility of the conscious dog model by assessing the QT-interval-prolonging potential of ten positive compounds that have been reported to induce QT interval prolongation in clinical use and seven negative compounds considered not to have such an effect. Three doses of test compounds or vehicle were administered orally to male beagle dogs (n=4), a...

Background Whether arrhythmia risks will increase if drugs with electrocardiographic (ECG) QT-prolonging properties are combined is generally supposed but not well studied. Based on available evidence, the Arizona Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (AZCERT) classification defines the risk of QT prolongation for exposure to single drugs. We aimed to investigate how combining AZCER...

Roxithromycin and other macrolide antimicrobials are widely used for a broad variety of infections such as upper respiratory tract infection and community acquired pneumonia. Prolongation of the QT interval, torsade de pointes polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, and sudden death are well described but little known adverse reactions common to all macrolides. We report the case of a 72 year old ...

STUDY OBJECTIVE Antipsychotic drugs are frequently reported to cause QT prolongation and torsade de pointes. We aim to investigate the potential risk of torsade de pointes in antipsychotic overdose by assessing the QT interval with the QT nomogram. METHODS All presentations to a toxicology service between January 1987 and May 2013 were reviewed. Admissions with single ingestions of an antipsy...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine whether or not levofloxacin has any relationship with QT prolongation in a real clinical setting by analyzing a clinical data warehouse of data collected from different hospital information systems. METHODS Electronic prescription data and medical charts from 3 different hospitals spanning the past 9 years were reviewed, and a clinical data wareh...