Dynamic QT/RR relationship of cardiac conduction in premature infants treated with low-dose doxapram hydrochloride
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Masafumi Miyata
Abstract
Doxapram hydrochloride, a respiratory stimulant, has several undesirable side effects during high-dose administration, including second-degree atrioventricular (AV) block and QT prolongation. In Japan, this drug is contraindicated for newborn infants. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated the efficacy and safety of doxapram therapy for apnea of prematurity (AOP) using lower doses than those previously tested. As a result, approximately 60% of Japanese neonatologists continue to use this drug. This study used surface ECG recordings to assess the cardiac safety of low-dose doxapram hydrochloride (0.2 mg/kg/h) in fifteen premature very-low-birth-weight infants with idiopathic AOP. Cardiac intervals and number of apnea episodes were compared before and after drug administration. Low-dose doxapram hydrochloride resulted in approximately 90% reduction in the frequency of apnea without side effects. None of the infants developed QT or PR prolongation, arrhythmia, or other conduction disorders. In addition, there was no change in the slope of QT/RR before versus after administration of doxapram hydrochloride. We conclude that low-dose administration of doxapram hydrochloride did not have any undesirable effects on myocardial depolarization and repolarization.
©2007 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York
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- Congress Calendar
Articles in the same Issue
- WAPM-Newsletter No 1/2007 8th WORLD CONGRESS OF PERINATAL MEDICINE in Florence, Italy, September 9–13, 2007
- Poverty and perinatal health
- Maternal mortality in Africa
- Lessons learned from four advanced abdominal pregnancies at an East African Health Center
- Incidence and correlates of cesarean section in a capital city of a middle-income country
- Metabolic changes, hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis and oxidative stress after short-term starvation in healthy pregnant women
- Does maternal docosahexaenoic acid supplementation during pregnancy and lactation lower BMI in late infancy?
- Feasibility of a randomized controlled trial testing nifedipine vs. placebo for the treatment of preterm labor
- Atosiban versus usual care for the management of preterm labor
- Umbilical cord blood collection: do patients really understand?
- Comparison between singleton- and triplet-specific “growth” curves to detect growth restricted triplet infants
- Role of visfatin, insulin-like growth factor-I and insulin in fetal growth
- Dynamic QT/RR relationship of cardiac conduction in premature infants treated with low-dose doxapram hydrochloride
- Risk factors and outcomes for ventilator-associated pneumonia in neonatal intensive care unit patients
- Neonatal outcomes in triplet pregnancies: assisted reproduction versus spontaneous conception
- Sequela of preterm versus term infants born to mothers on a methadone maintenance program: differential course of neonatal abstinence syndrome
- Vacuum extraction and autonomic balance in human infants
- Accuracy of second trimester fetal head circumference and biparietal diameter for predicting the time of spontaneous birth
- Reply
- Induction of labor with oral misoprostol for premature rupture of membranes at term in women with unfavorable cervix
- Reply
- In memoriam: Prof. Shouichi Sakamoto
- Congress Calendar
