High-Dose Methadone Boosts Cardiovascular Risk
High-Dose Methadone Boosts Cardiovascular Risk Allison Gandey Patients taking high doses of methadone have more cardiovascular risk, warn researchers. "There is a dose-dependent effect on QTc interval in patients taking more than 120 mg per day," presenter Ricardo Cruciani, MD, from Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, said here at the American Pain Society 30th Annual Scientific Meeting. Investigators grouped chronic pain patients according to methadone dose and found the highest-dose group showed significantly more QTc prolongation. Lower doses ranged from 10 to 120 mg. Dr. Cruciani's team considered a QT corrected for heart rate prolongation of more than 500 milliseconds as a definite risk for the potentially fatal arrhythmia torsades de pointes. Men with prolongations of more than 430 and 450 and women with increases of 450 and 470 were considered at risk. According to the Center...