Case report
Prolonged QT interval in a man with anorexia nervosa
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* Corresponding authors: María D Macías-Robles MDMACIAS@telefonica.net - Carmen Maciá-Bobes cmacb@arrakis.es
1 Department of Emergencies, Hospital San Agustín, Avilés, Asturias, Spain
2 Department of Endocrinology, Hospital San Agustín, Avilés, Asturias, Spain
3 Department of Biochemistry, Hospital Juan Canalejo, La Coruña, Galicia, Spain
International Archives of Medicine 2009, 2:23 doi:10.1186/1755-7682-2-23
Published: 31 July 2009Abstract
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by the avoidance of food intake, which usually leads to a weight loss. Cardiac co-morbility is common and we can find sometimes a mass loss from the left ventricle, which can be seen by echocardiography. But the commonest complications are rhythm variations, typically bradycardia with a prolonged QT interval in up to a 40% of the cases, which altogether elevates ventricular tachycardia and sudden death risk. We present the case of a male who was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and developed asthenia, a long QT interval and also a severe both hypokalaemia and hypomagnesaemia. We intend to discuss the pathogenic paths as well as prophylactic and therapeutic measures to this potentially-lethal pathology.