Biomedical subjects

W Victor R Vieweg

Publications and source records attributed to W Victor R Vieweg.

20 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Assessing cardiovascular risks versus clinical benefits of atypical antipsychotic drug treatment.

The atypical antipsychotic drugs are a major advance in the treatment of psychosis in spite of concerns about metabolic and cardiovascular side effects that affect morbidity and mortality. Concerns about weight gain, hypoglycemia, diabetes, and increases in lipids as well as sudden death due to torsades de pointes and other cardiovascular events can temper enthusiasm about the atypical antipsychotics. The challenge for the clinician is to weigh the benefits and risks for each drug for each patient and develop a treatment plan with the individual patient in mind. This article discusses both risks and benefits of antipsychotic treatment and presents a treatment algorithm to aid the clinician in choosing medications for the psychotic patient.

Algorithms↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Tricyclic antidepressants, QT interval prolongation, and torsade de pointes.

The authors postulate mechanisms linking tricyclic antidepressants, QT interval prolongation, torsade de pointes, and sudden cardiac death. Case reports identify amitriptyline and maprotiline as the tricyclic antidepressants most likely to provoke torsade de pointes. Risk factors of family history of congenital long QT syndrome, age, female sex, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, metabolic inhibitors, hypokalemia, drug overdose, and co-prescription of drugs associated with QT interval prolongation were found in cases of torsade de pointes associated with tricyclic antidepressants. Clinicians should be cautious when prescribing tricyclic antidepressants with other drugs, such as thioridazine, that are capable of prolonging the QT interval.

Adult↗