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COMMENTS & OPINIONS
QTc Prolongation in Human Immunodeficiency Virus–Infected Persons
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The finding of a high prevalence of QTc prolongation in injection drug users receiving methadone reported by Ehret et al1 poses an important issue in the management of these patients because they found that this serious cardiac manifestation was independently associated with methadone use, the presence of cytochrome P-450 3A4 inhibitors, potassium level, and liver dysfunction. Many of these conditions are present in a large proportion of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals, that is, injection drug users, virus-hepatitis–coinfected patients, people with alcohol abuse, and individuals receiving treatment with drugs that inhibit cytochrome P-450 3A4.
In our prospective study on QTc prolongation in HIV-infected outpatients, preliminary results on 99 consecutive injection drug users with HIV (84 men; median age, 44 years [range 34-67 years]) showed that a QTc greater than 0.44 seconds was found in 29 (29%) of them. Significantly higher prevalences of QTc prolongation were found in individuals using methadone . . . [Full Text of this Article]
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Nicola Petrosillo, MD;
Francesco Paolo Lisena, MD;
Pierangelo Chinello, MD
RELATED ARTICLE
Drug-Induced Long QT Syndrome in Injection Drug Users Receiving Methadone: High Frequency in Hospitalized Patients and Risk Factors
Georg B. Ehret, Cathy Voide, Marianne Gex-Fabry, Jocelyne Chabert, Dipen Shah, Barbara Broers, Valérie Piguet, Thierry Musset, Jean-Michel Gaspoz, Arnaud Perrier, Pierre Dayer, and Jules A. Desmeules
Arch Intern Med. 2006;166(12):1280-1287.
ABSTRACT
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