Study on corrected QT interval before and after haemodialysis among patients on beta blocker therapy

Abstract

Introduction : In recent days patients with end stage renal disease on maintenance hemodialysis is emerging.In the conventional ECG the prolonged QT interval has been associated with arrhythmogenesis in a number of cardiac disorders.It has been documented that dialysis patients exhibit sustained activation of the sympathetic nervous system and that the diseased kidney themselves are the trigger of this overactivity 106,107 .The sympathetic over activity is associated with mortality and worse cardiovascular outcomes. 19 So the study to assess the effect of beta blockers in chronic renal failure patients using QT interval is taken up. Materials & methods : A cross sectional hospital based study was done on fifty adult patients on hemodialysis for more than three months at associate hospitals of Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore.Informed consent was taken from them.Twelve-lead electrocardiographs were performed at 10mm/mv and 25mm/s using software based digital ECG recorder (Schiller Healthcare India Pvt Ltd.)10 minutes before and 10 min after a single hemodialysis session. The automatic QT interval was obtained. Statistical analysis was done using Students t-test and chi-square test. P value of ?0.05 was considered significant. Discussion : This study demonstrates that QT interval increases significantly after hemodialysis.There was no significant differences in QT dispersion in end stage renal disease patients on beta blockers and those patients not on beta blockers in our study.However, long term clinical trials are desperately needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of beta blockers in chronic dialysis patients.