Andrea Mazzanti1, Riccardo Maragna2, Gaetano Vacanti2, Anna Kostopoulou2, Maira Marino2, Nicola Monteforte2, Raffaella Bloise2, Katherine Underwood2, Valentina Tibollo3, Eleonora Pagan4, Carlo Napolitano2, Riccardo Bellazzi3, Vincenzo Bagnardi4, Silvia G Priori5. 1. Molecular Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, IRCCS ICS Maugeri, Pavia, Italy; Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. 2. Molecular Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, IRCCS ICS Maugeri, Pavia, Italy. 3. Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. 4. Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. 5. Molecular Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, IRCCS ICS Maugeri, Pavia, Italy; Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; Fundación Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: silvia.priori@icsmaugeri.it.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Short QT syndrome (SQTS) is a rare and life-threatening arrhythmogenic syndrome characterized by abbreviated repolarization. Hydroquinidine (HQ) prolongs the QT interval in SQTS patients, although whether it reduces cardiac events is currently unknown. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether long-term treatment with HQ reduces the occurrence of life-threatening arrhythmic events (LAE) (cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death) in SQTS patients. METHODS: In this cohort study on consecutive SQTS patients, 2 analyses were performed: 1) a matched-period analysis for the occurrence of LAE in 17 SQTS patients who received long-term HQ; and 2) a comparison of the annual incidence of LAE off- and on-HQ in 16 SQTS patients who survived a cardiac arrest. RESULTS: A total of 17 patients (82% male, age 29 ± 3 years, QTc before treatment 331 ± 3 ms) received HQ therapy (584 ± 53 mg/day). Therapy was stopped in 2 cases (12%) due to gastrointestinal intolerance, and 15 patients continued treatment for 6 ± 1 year. QTc prolongation was observed in all patients (by 60 ± 6 ms; p < 0.001). We compared the occurrence of LAE during 6 ± 1 years before and after HQ, observing that patients on HQ experienced a reduction in both the rate of LAE from 40% to 0% (p = 0.03) and the number of LAE per patient from 0.73 ± 0.3 to 0 (p = 0.026). Furthermore, the annual rate of LAE in the 16 patients with a previous cardiac arrest dropped from 12% before HQ to 0 on therapy (p = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated for the first time that treatment with HQ was associated with a lower incidence of LAE in SQTS patients. These data point to the importance that quinidine, that in several countries has been removed from the market, remains available worldwide for patients with SQTS. In the present study, therapy with HQ has been proven to be safe, with a relatively low rate of side effects.
BACKGROUND:Short QT syndrome (SQTS) is a rare and life-threatening arrhythmogenic syndrome characterized by abbreviated repolarization. Hydroquinidine (HQ) prolongs the QT interval in SQTS patients, although whether it reduces cardiac events is currently unknown. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether long-term treatment with HQ reduces the occurrence of life-threatening arrhythmic events (LAE) (cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death) in SQTS patients. METHODS: In this cohort study on consecutive SQTS patients, 2 analyses were performed: 1) a matched-period analysis for the occurrence of LAE in 17 SQTS patients who received long-term HQ; and 2) a comparison of the annual incidence of LAE off- and on-HQ in 16 SQTS patients who survived a cardiac arrest. RESULTS: A total of 17 patients (82% male, age 29 ± 3 years, QTc before treatment 331 ± 3 ms) received HQ therapy (584 ± 53 mg/day). Therapy was stopped in 2 cases (12%) due to gastrointestinal intolerance, and 15 patients continued treatment for 6 ± 1 year. QTc prolongation was observed in all patients (by 60 ± 6 ms; p < 0.001). We compared the occurrence of LAE during 6 ± 1 years before and after HQ, observing that patients on HQ experienced a reduction in both the rate of LAE from 40% to 0% (p = 0.03) and the number of LAE per patient from 0.73 ± 0.3 to 0 (p = 0.026). Furthermore, the annual rate of LAE in the 16 patients with a previous cardiac arrest dropped from 12% before HQ to 0 on therapy (p = 0.028). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated for the first time that treatment with HQ was associated with a lower incidence of LAE in SQTS patients. These data point to the importance that quinidine, that in several countries has been removed from the market, remains available worldwide for patients with SQTS. In the present study, therapy with HQ has been proven to be safe, with a relatively low rate of side effects.
Authors: Arthur A M Wilde; Christopher Semsarian; Manlio F Márquez; Alireza Sepehri Shamloo; Michael J Ackerman; Euan A Ashley; Back Sternick Eduardo; Héctor Barajas-Martinez; Elijah R Behr; Connie R Bezzina; Jeroen Breckpot; Philippe Charron; Priya Chockalingam; Lia Crotti; Michael H Gollob; Steven Lubitz; Naomasa Makita; Seiko Ohno; Martín Ortiz-Genga; Luciana Sacilotto; Eric Schulze-Bahr; Wataru Shimizu; Nona Sotoodehnia; Rafik Tadros; James S Ware; David S Winlaw; Elizabeth S Kaufman; Takeshi Aiba; Andreas Bollmann; Jong-Il Choi; Aarti Dalal; Francisco Darrieux; John Giudicessi; Mariana Guerchicoff; Kui Hong; Andrew D Krahn; Ciorsti Mac Intyre; Judith A Mackall; Lluís Mont; Carlo Napolitano; Pablo Ochoa Juan; Petr Peichl; Alexandre C Pereira; Peter J Schwartz; Jon Skinner; Christoph Stellbrink; Jacob Tfelt-Hansen; Thomas Deneke Journal: J Arrhythm Date: 2022-05-31
Authors: Arthur A M Wilde; Christopher Semsarian; Manlio F Márquez; Alireza Sepehri Shamloo; Michael J Ackerman; Euan A Ashley; Eduardo Back Sternick; Héctor Barajas-Martinez; Elijah R Behr; Connie R Bezzina; Jeroen Breckpot; Philippe Charron; Priya Chockalingam; Lia Crotti; Michael H Gollob; Steven Lubitz; Naomasa Makita; Seiko Ohno; Martín Ortiz-Genga; Luciana Sacilotto; Eric Schulze-Bahr; Wataru Shimizu; Nona Sotoodehnia; Rafik Tadros; James S Ware; David S Winlaw; Elizabeth S Kaufman; Takeshi Aiba; Andreas Bollmann; Jong Il Choi; Aarti Dalal; Francisco Darrieux; John Giudicessi; Mariana Guerchicoff; Kui Hong; Andrew D Krahn; Ciorsti MacIntyre; Judith A Mackall; Lluís Mont; Carlo Napolitano; Juan Pablo Ochoa; Petr Peichl; Alexandre C Pereira; Peter J Schwartz; Jon Skinner; Christoph Stellbrink; Jacob Tfelt-Hansen; Thomas Deneke Journal: Europace Date: 2022-09-01 Impact factor: 5.486
Authors: Ibrahim El-Battrawy; Kim Schlentrich; Johanna Besler; Volker Liebe; Rainer Schimpf; Siegfried Lang; Katja E Odening; Christian Wolpert; Xiaobo Zhou; Martin Borggrefe; Ibrahim Akin Journal: Eur J Prev Cardiol Date: 2019-05-24 Impact factor: 7.804