Cardiac arrest due to torsade de pointes (TdP) in the
acquired form of drug-induced long-QT syndrome
(LQTS) is a rare but potentially catastrophic event in hospital
settings. Administration of a QT-prolonging drug to a hospitalized
population may be more likely to cause TdP than
administration of the same drug to an outpatient population,
because hospitalized patients often have other risk factors for
a proarrhythmic response. For example, hospitalized patients
are often elderly people with underlying heart disease who
may also have renal or hepatic dysfunction, electrolyte
abnormalities, or bradycardia and to whom drugs may be
administered rapidly via the intravenous route.
