Cardiology Letters 2017, 26(5):288-294

Prolongation of the QTc interval induced by systemic tumor therapy

Setteyová L^{1, 2}, Mladosievičová B¹

¹ Ústav patologickej fyziológie Lekárská fakulta Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave

² Klinika hematológie a transfuziológie LF UK, SZU a UN Bratislava, Slovenská republika

Cancer patients are at an increased risk of QTc interval prolongation with predisposition to ventricular tachyarrhythmias torsade de pointes due to the multiple drugs used for treatment of malignancies and many risk factors. The unexpected ability to prolong QTc interval is associated with arsenic trioxide and a growing number of kinase inhibitors. In addition, a variety of oncological and non-oncological medications can lead to QTc prolongation. Conditions such as electrolyte abnormalities, nutritional disturbances, hypothyreosis, cardiac, renal, hepatal damage and other factors can prolong QTc interval in cancer patients. Despite the unclear association between long QTc interval and ventricular arrhythmias "torsade de pointes", it is important to be aware of such rare, but severe, adverse events in oncology practice. The purpose of this article is to update readers on more recent data about the pathogenesis and prevalence of long QTc interval syndrome and torsade de pointes in cancer patients, with the special focus on targeted therapy.

Keywords: QTc prolongation; targeted therapy; torsade de pointes; cancer patients

Published: May 1, 2017  Show citation