Torsades-de-Pointes associated with Taku-Tsubo cardiomyopathy following greatly reduced oxycodone use in an elderly woman.

This article reports an elderly female oxycodone consumer who developed Torsades-de-Pointes soon after her opioid-associated rate-corrected QT interval (QTC, a standard measurement on electrocardiograms) prolongation had been augmented by the development of Taku-Tsubo cardiomyopathy (TC), a sequence that followed greatly reduced oxycodone ingestion. Factors that likely contributed to this sequence are discussed, including direct opioid-induced inhibition of human ether-a-go-go-related gene activity and of androgen formation plus QTc prolongation induced by the presence of TC.