Bradyarrhythmic Cardiac Arrest—A Rare Manifestation of Fexofenadine Cardiotoxicity. Issue 4 (December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ghose, Tapan; Kachru, Ranjan; Dey, Jaideep
• Is Part Of: Indian journal of clinical cardiology. Volume 2:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: 213
• Page End: 216
• Publication Date: 2021-12
• Subjects: Antihistamine cardiotoxicity -- fexofenadine -- high-grade AV block -- drug-induced cardiac arrest -- adverse drug reaction; Cardiology -- Periodicals; Cardiology -- India -- Periodicals; Periodical; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Zeitschrift; 616.12
• DOI: 10.1177/26324636211043659
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2632-4636

Abstract

A 66-year-old diabetic, hypertensive, and hypothyroid female presented in the emergency department with cardiac arrest, for which cardiopulmonary resuscitation was immediately initiated. She had been on oral fexofenadine for 36 h prior to the event. Post successful resuscitation, her cardiac rhythm showed high-grade atrioventricular block. Patient was treated with mechanical ventilatory support and temporary transvenous pacing. No treatable cause could be identified, and she recovered completely following fexofenadine discontinuation, without need for a permanent pacemaker. She has remained asymptomatic during 1 year of follow-up with no documented arrhythmias. An electrophysiological study at 6 months revealed prolonged HV interval (70 ms) with 1:1 AV conduction and no inducible arrhythmias. This is probably the first reported case of fexofenadine-induced cardiac arrest in a patient without previous history of heart disease.