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Cocaine‐Related Sudden Cardiac Death: A Hypothesis Correlating Basic Science and Clinical Observations
Author(s) -
Bauman Jerry L.,
Grawe Jeffrey J.,
Winecoff Allison P.,
Hariman Robert J.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
the journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.92
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1552-4604
pISSN - 0091-2700
DOI - 10.1002/j.1552-4604.1994.tb04003.x
Subject(s) - flecainide , medicine , sudden death , sudden cardiac death , blocking (statistics) , drug , cardiology , pharmacology , statistics , mathematics , atrial fibrillation
Sudden, unexpected death due to cocaine in young otherwise healthy individuals occurs in an idiosyncratic manner and is commonly felt to be arrhythmogenic in nature, although the exact cause of death is rarely documented. In addition to indirect sympathomimetic actions, cocaine is a potent sodium channel blocking drug and, in this regard, most closely resembles agents such as flecainide. We suggest that sudden death due to cocaine is proarrhythmic in nature, occurring under similar circumstances as that due to specific antiarrhythmic drugs.