Abstract 113: The Benign Nature of Therapeutic Hypothermia--Induced Long QTc

Introduction: Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) can prolong the QT interval, however, this is generally not associated with Torsade de pointes (TdP). We hypothesize that the danger of the lengthened QTc could be mitigated by a decrease in QT dispersion. Methods: All survivors of cardiac arrest who completed a minimum of twelve hours of TH at Bellevue Hospital Medical Center were evaluated for study inclusion (January 2007- March 2010). Electrocardiograms were obtained before and after 12 hours of TH. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test was used to compare the QTc intervals and used to compare the QT dispersion values. QT dispersion was not measured in patients with atrial fibrillation. Continuous variables are summarized as medians and (interquartile, IQR) ranges. Results: Data were available on 30 patients. Six patients were excluded for premature termination of TH (none arrhythmia related). Four additional patients were excluded for lack of electrocardiograms or pacing. Thus, 20 patients were included for analysi...