Short report
Digoxin, hypercalcaemia, and cardiac
conduction
Adrian Vellaa, Thomas C Gerberb, David L Hayesb, Guy S Reederb
a Department of
Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic & Foundation, 200 First Street SW,
Rochester, MN 55905, USA Division of
Endocrinology, b Division of
Cardiology
Accepted 17 March 1999
The cardiac effects of hypercalcaemia are usually manifest as a
shortening of the QT-interval. Hypercalcaemia is infrequently associated with a clinically manifest arrhythmia. However, concomitant therapy with digoxin or underlying cardiac disease can potentiate the
arrhythmogenic effects of hypercalcaemia, leading to a symptomatic rhythm disorder. We describe a symptomatic arrhythmia, which developed in a patient with hypercalcaemia secondary to squamous cell carcinoma of the bronchus. The patient was on digoxin therapy at the time. The
arrhythmia did not recur after discontinuation of digoxin therapy and
correction of the hypercalcaemia. Because of its effect on cardiac
conduction, hypercalcaemia should be considered in the evaluation of
any patient with an unexplained bradyarrhythmia. Conversely, patients
with hypercalcaemia should discontinue digoxin therapy and be evaluated
for the presence of rhythm disorders while receiving appropriate
treatment for hypercalcaemia.
Keywords: hypercalcaemia; bradycardia; cardiac conduction; arrhythmia
© 1999 by The Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Goyal, S. B., Spodick, D., Ritter, M. M., Newman, L. S., Feinberg, M. W., LeWine, H. E.
(2005). A Bitter Tale. NEJM
352: 97-98
[Full Text] -
Shah, A. P., Lopez, A., Wachsner, R. Y., Meymandi, S. K., El-Bialy, A. K., Ichiuji, A. M.
(2004). Sinus Node Dysfunction Secondary to Hyperparathyroidism. J CARDIOVASC PHARMACOL THER
9: 145-147
[Abstract]
- Full Text
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
