Monitoring of QTc interval in patients with COVID-19. First experience with a portable ECG-recording device

摘要

Treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as a new entity lacking sufficient evidence-based pharmacotherapy, was initially based in drugs with in-vitro activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) such as hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and lopinavir/ritonavir. Each of these drugs is known to prolong QT interval [1–3]. This phenomenon is of utmost importance, as it is associated with early after-depolarizations, which can generate short-coupled premature action potentials that lead to ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death [4]. Therefore, it seems mandatory to implement monitoring systems, in a scenario where the use of portable electrocardiographic-recording devices could be useful.