|
Home > QR-E-Letter Archive > 9-29-2005
Issue No. 16 September 29, 2005
Welcome to the free Quick-Reference E-Letter from the publishers of The Complete Practitioner: Mental Health Applications. We hope you find the "Quick-Reference" items (below) interesting and helpful. (NOTE: We do not receive emails at the email address noted in the "From:" line of this email. To contact us, see the options toward the bottom of this page. Thank you.)
We will not disclose your email address to others. Among the reasons that you have received this e-letter are that you have requested it, and/or have subscribed to The Complete Practitioner (printed monthly), and/or you have expressed interest in The Complete Practitioner, and/or a colleague thought you would be interested in receiving this e-letter.
|
QUICK REFERENCE #25: Why is it of concern when a medication prolongs the QT interval?
A prolongation of the QT interval (an electrocardiogram measure) is an indication of prolonged ventricular repolarization, thus increasing the risk of torsades de pointes, a type of ventricular arrhythmia that has been linked to sudden death. In addition to the concern that torsades de pointes can result from the use of a single QT-prolonging medication, the risk may be compounded when there is concomitant use of two or more QT-prolonging medications. There is evidence (to varying degrees) that several antipsychotics and some other psychotropics are among the medications that prolong the QT interval.
(Note to paid subscribers to The Complete Practitioner : You can access related content by conducting a search for "torsades" in the Subscribers' Area of our Web site [http://www.completepractitioner.com].)
QUICK REFERENCE #26: Which medications prolong the QT interval and/or induce torsades de pointes?
Medications that prolong the QT interval and/or induce torsades de pointes ventricular arrhythmia are listed on a Web site developed by the University of Arizona Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERT). The lists are organized as follows:
• drugs that are generally accepted by authorities to have a risk of causing torsades de pointes
• drugs that in some reports may be associated with torsades de pointes but at this time lack substantial evidence for causing torsades de pointes
• drugs to be avoided for use in patients with diagnosed or suspected congenital long QT syndrome
• drugs that, in some reports, have been weakly associated with torsades de pointes but that, when used in usual dosages, are unlikely to be a risk for torsades de pointes in patients without other risk factors
The University of Arizona CERT is 1 of 7 CERTs nationwide. The national CERTs program is administered by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration. The Arizona CERT specializes in the "Education and Research on drug-induced arrhythmias, especially those due to prolongation of the QT interval on the electrocardiogram (ECG). Prolongation of the QT interval can result in the potentially lethal arrhythmia, torsades de pointes."
The lists are available at http://www.torsades.org.
|
CONTINUING EDUCATION (CE) COURSES
For information about online Continuing Education courses that enable you to print out your CE certificate immediately after passing an exam, click here [http://tcpceu.com]. (CE courses are available for purchase.)
THE COMPLETE PRACTITIONER: MENTAL HEALTH APPLICATIONS
For information about our print publication (The Complete Practitioner: Mental Health Applications), click here [http://www.completepractitioner.com]. (Subscriptions to The Complete Practitioner: Mental Health Applications are available for purchase.)
TO SEND THIS E-LETTER TO A COLLEAGUE
To forward this e-letter to a colleague, click here [http://www.completepractitioner.com/cgi-bin/refer.cgi].
TO REGISTER TO RECEIVE THE QR-E-LETTER
If you received this e-letter from a colleague, you can register to regularly receive this free e-letter (approximately every two weeks). To register to regularly receive this e-letter, click here [http://www.completepractitioner.com/cgi-bin/register.cgi].
TO CHANGE THE E-MAIL ADDRESS TO WHICH YOU WANT THE QR-E-LETTER SENT
To provide us with your changed email address click here [http://www.completepractitioner.com/cgi-bin/change.cgi].
TO STOP RECEIVING THE QR-E-LETTER (ie, to UNREGISTER)
To stop receiving the QR-E-Letter send a blank email to: leave-eletter@completepractitioner.com.
The QR-E-Letter can receive email at eletter@completepractitioner.com. (We do not receive emails at the email address that appears in the "From:" line of this email. Thank you.)
|
IMPORTANT: Inclusion of content in this e-letter is for educational purposes only and does not indicate endorsement of any claims or recommendations made or implied by that content or by the content of any Web sites that are noted in or linked to this e-letter.
| |
We hope that you have enjoyed receiving this e-letter. Please note that a small portion of this e-letter contains advertising (as indicated, for example, by text stating that an item is available for purchase).
| 