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Article: Watch for potential side effects of sotalol.
- Article from:
- Cost Management in Cardiac Care
- Article date:
- May 1, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 AHC Media LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Watch for potential side effects of sotalol
eGo low and slow,E advise investigators
Before administering any anti-arrhythmic drug, be sure to account for the patientEs gender, symptoms, and extent of cardiac compromise. D,l-sotalol (Betapace) is a drug widely used to correct abnormal heartbeat, but in some patients, particularly women, it can cause an arrhythmia called torsade de pointes (TdP)..sup.1 A bout with the potentially fatal arrhythmia can add as much as a week to the average hospital stay of a critically ill patient.
Women are three times more likely than men to experience the serious adverse reaction from sotalol, a finding that adds ...