Changes in the QT and QTc intervals were studied in 16 patients by atrial pacing at rates of 100, 130, and 150 beats/minute. In all patients the measured QT shortened when the atrial paced rate was increased, but when corrected for heart rate the QTc lengthened. Intravenously administered propranolol produced a bradycardia and a lengthening of the QT interval in 15 of the 16 patients studied. W...

OBJECTIVE Intense emotions are known triggers of sudden cardiac death. However, the effect of typical daily emotion on repolarization has not been examined. We examined whether QT interval changes as a function of typical daily emotion in patients at risk for cardiac events in the context of emotion. METHODS We studied 161 patients (n = 114 females; mean age, 35 years) with the congenital for...

While the QT/QTc interval is currently the best available clinical surrogate for the development of drug-induced torsades de pointes, it is overall an imperfect biomarker. In addition to low specificity for predicting arrhythmias, other issues relevant to using QT as a biomarker include (1) an apparent dissociation, for some drugs (for example, amiodarone, sodium pentobarbital, ranolazine) betw...

Objectives: To evaluate whether reduced heart rate variability (HRV), prolonged QTc interval, or increased QT dispersion (QTD) are predictors of mortality in the general diabetic and nondiabetic population. Research Design and Methods: Nondiabetic (n=1560) and diabetic (n=160) subjects aged 55-74 years were assessed to determine whether reduced HRV, prolonged QTc interval, and increased QTD may...

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is an inherited cardiac disease characterized by a prolonged heart rate-corrected QT (QTc) interval. We investigated the genetic causes in patients with prolonged QTc intervals who were negative for pathogenic variants in three major LQTS-related genes (KCNQ1, KCNH2, and SCN5A). Molecular genetic testing was performed using a panel including 13 LQTS-related genes and 67 ...

Aims. Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of smoking on autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity and QTc interval duration in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods. A total of 70 patients with T2DM (35 chronic smokers, 35 nonsmokers) treated with oral antidiabetic medications underwent continuous ECG Holter monitoring for 24 hours and analysis of time- and frequency-doma...

OBJECTIVE Glycemic variability (GV) is a new term with the episodes of hyper and hypoglycemia in diabetic patients. Both prolonged QT interval and QTd are potential risk factors for malignant ventricular arrhythmias affecting the mortality of different groups of patients including diabetes mellitus. In this study, we aimed to evaluate if the glucose variability increasing the QTc interval and Q...

DESCRIPTION An independent panel developed cardiac safety recommendations for physicians prescribing methadone. METHODS Expert panel members reviewed and discussed the following sources regarding methadone: pertinent English-language literature identified from MEDLINE and EMBASE searches (1966 to June 2008), national substance abuse guidelines from the United States and other countries, infor...

An adolescent presented with exercise-associated syncope and electrocardiographic corrected QT interval (QTc) prolongation. Pseudohypoparathyroidism-induced hypocalcemia was diagnosed. The QTc (485 to 505 milliseconds) shortened during normalization of calcium levels, and syncope has not reoccurred.

A 9-year-old boy diagnosed as Propionic acidemia at 2 months of age, complained of palpitations and nearsyncope episodes related with exercise. His metabolic condition was well controlled on sodium benzoate, carnitine, protein-free diet and biotin treatment. A prolonged QTc interval was noted on ECG-Holter (Fig. 1). Echocardiography showed no anomalies. He fulfilled criteria for diagnosis of Lo...