HARCP

HEROIN ADDICTION AND
RELATED CLINICAL PROBLEMS

The official journal of
EUROPAD - European Opiate Addiction Treatment Association
WFTOD - World Federation for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence
Editor: Icro Maremmani, MD - Pisa, Italy, EU
Associate Editors:
Thomas Clausen, MD - Oslo, Norway
Pier Paolo Pani, MD - Cagliari, Italy, EU
Marta Torrens, MD - Barcelona, Spain, EU
Statistical Editor:
Mario Miccoli, PhD - Pisa, Italy, EU

HARCP Archives

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Heroin Addiction and Related Clinical Problems: 2009, 11, 4 (pages: 21 - 28)

Opioid Treatment and “Long-QT Syndrome (LQTS)”: a Critical Review of the Literature

Pacini M., Maremmani A. G. I., Dell' Osso L., Maremmani I.

Summary: The present review aims at perusing the available literature about QT-related cardiac safety during methadone treatment. On the whole, case reports, either single or multiple, do not seem a reasonable bases to draw conclusions about the weight of any putative risk factor for QT prolongation. On the other hand, systematic studies allow making some statements about the extension and weight of QT prolongation during methadone maintenance treatment for heroin addiction. No major concern about cardiac safety of methadone itself in the average addict seems to stand. Conditions at higher risk of multiple and polydrug treatments deserve some greater surveillance. No rationale for a dose-ceiling stands in a risk/benefit perspective.

 

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