The aim of the study was to detect the changes of QT dispersion (QTd) due to cardiotoxicity of tricyclic antidepressant dosulepin. Electrocardiographic and vectorcardiographic recordings were obtained using Cardiag 112.2 diagnostic system from 28 psychiatric outpatients treated with prophylactic doses of dosulepin and compared to those obtained from 37 healthy volunteers. From these recordings ...

BACKGROUND/AIM Electrophysiological changes are observed following mechanical stretches due to pressure overload in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). The electrical instability occurs after depolarization and dispersion of repolarization. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in ventricular repolarization following transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). MATERIALS AND...

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...

OBJECTIVE Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) was thought to have a proarrhythmic effect on ventricular repolarization. But the results of previous studies were inconsistent. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of CRT on ventricular repolarization. METHODS A meta-analysis of studies focused on the effect of CRT on ventricular repolarization in patients undergoing CRT was con...

To the Editor We read the article " Effect of transcatheter aortic valve implantation on QT dispersion in patients with aortic stenosis " by Erkan, et al. [1] with great interest. In this study, they investigated the effect of transcatheter aortic valve implanta-tion (TAVI) on QT dispersion (QTd) in patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis. They reported that left ventricular mass index...

Oral-wash samples obtained during 113 episodes of suspected Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients were tested by use of a quantitative touch-down PCR (QTD PCR) assay. QTD PCR had a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 85%. Treatment for PCP prior to oral wash collection had an impact on the sensitivity, and PCR-positive oral-wash samples obtained with...

BACKGROUND Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) have a markedly increased incidence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias. QT dispersion (QTd), defined as the difference between maximal and minimal QT intervals, reflects the regional inhomogeneity of ventricular repolarization dispersion and may mark the presence of malignant ventricular arrhythmias. PURPOSE To determine the effects of ex...

OBJECTIVE To measure the extent of subclinical atherosclerosis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with controls, and to evaluate any potential vascular risk factors. METHODS Forty RA patients were compared with an age- and sex-matched control group. Non-invasive vascular tests, i.e. carotid duplex scanning [measuring common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT)], ankle-...

BACKGROUND Repolarization dispersion (Rd) is frequently mentioned as a predictor of cardiac abnormalities. We present a new measure of Rd based on the root-mean-square (RMS) curve of an ECG lead set and compare its performance with that of the commonly used QT dispersion (QTd) measure with the use of recovery times measured from directly recorded canine electrograms. METHODS AND RESULTS Using...