Hafeezullah Shaikh, Muhammad Mansoor-ul Haq, Nabiha Faisal, Pervez Ashraf, Afzal-ul Haq Haqqi.
Prolongation of Qtc interval in patients with cirrhosis.
Isra Med J Jan ;6(1):12-4.

OBJECTIVES: To observe the frequency of QTc (corrected QT) interval prolongation in patients with chronic liver disease in our population. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION: Department of Gastroenterology, Liaquat National Hospital & Medical College, Karachi from May 2009 to October 2009. METHODOLOGY: A non- probability, purposive sampling is used in already diagnosed cirrhotic patients. Patients between 25-70 years were included. These patients were divided into three groups according to their Child-Pugh (C.P.) classification (class A, class B and class C). An electrocardiogram (ECG) of all patients was obtained and QT intervals corrected for heart rate (QTc) were calculated. Analysis of data was done by SPSS 17. RESULTS: 121 cirrhotic patients were inducted in this study. 10 patients belonged to C.P. class A, 49 to C.P. class B, and 62 to C.P. class C. Prolonged QTc interval was observed in 48 (39.7%) patients while in 73 (60.3%) patients QTc interval was normal. Occurrence of prolonged QTc interval was greater in C.P. class-C (50%) followed by C.P. class-B (30.6%), p value 0.045 and 0.016 respectively. CONCLUSION: Significant number of cirrhotic patients had prolonged QTc interval and this prolongation of QTc interval was directly associated with more advanced liver disease.

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