TY - JOUR
T1 - Signal-averaged electrocardiogram in physically healthy, chronic 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) users
AU - Kanneganti, Praveen
AU - Huestis, Marilyn A.
AU - Kolbrich, Erin A.
AU - Goodwin, Robert
AU - Ziegelstein, Roy C.
AU - Gorelick, David A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by the Intramural Research Program, NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse. We thank the Hopkins Bayview research nurses at NIDA IRP for recording of ECGs and excellent clinical care of research subjects.
Funding Information:
Supported by the Intramural Research Program, NIH, National Institute on Drug Abuse. Address correspondence to David A. Gorelick, NIDA IRP, 251 Bayview Boulevard, suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA. E-mail: dgorelic@intra.nida.nih.gov
PY - 2008/11
Y1 - 2008/11
N2 - Objectives: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) use has been associated with cardiac arrhythmias. Markers of ventricular late potentials (VLP), which may be a precursor to malignant ventricular arrhythmias, can be detected by signal-averaged electrocardiography (SA-ECG), but not by standard ECG. Methods: We evaluated SA-ECG parameters in 21 physically healthy, recently abstinent MDMA users who also used cannabis (11 males, mean [SD] age 23.3 [4.6] years, 2.8 [2.0] years of use), 18 physically healthy cannabis users (8 males, mean [SD] age 26.6 [7.1] years, 11.2 [5.4] years of use) and 54 non-drug-using controls (21 males, mean [SD] age 28.4 [7.8] years). We analyzed three SA-ECG parameters considered markers of VLPs: duration of filtered QRS complex (fQRS), duration of low amplitude potentials during terminal 40 ms of QRS complex (LAS40), and root mean square voltage during terminal 40 ms of QRS complex (RMS40). Results: MDMA users, cannabis users, and non-drug-using controls did not differ significantly from each other in fQRS, LAS40, or RMS40 values or in the proportion of subjects with abnormal SA-ECG parameters. There were significant gender differences among controls, but not among MDMA users. Conclusion: These findings suggest that chronic MDMA use is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively associated with a high prevalence of abnormal SA-ECG parameters indicative of VLP markers.
AB - Objectives: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) use has been associated with cardiac arrhythmias. Markers of ventricular late potentials (VLP), which may be a precursor to malignant ventricular arrhythmias, can be detected by signal-averaged electrocardiography (SA-ECG), but not by standard ECG. Methods: We evaluated SA-ECG parameters in 21 physically healthy, recently abstinent MDMA users who also used cannabis (11 males, mean [SD] age 23.3 [4.6] years, 2.8 [2.0] years of use), 18 physically healthy cannabis users (8 males, mean [SD] age 26.6 [7.1] years, 11.2 [5.4] years of use) and 54 non-drug-using controls (21 males, mean [SD] age 28.4 [7.8] years). We analyzed three SA-ECG parameters considered markers of VLPs: duration of filtered QRS complex (fQRS), duration of low amplitude potentials during terminal 40 ms of QRS complex (LAS40), and root mean square voltage during terminal 40 ms of QRS complex (RMS40). Results: MDMA users, cannabis users, and non-drug-using controls did not differ significantly from each other in fQRS, LAS40, or RMS40 values or in the proportion of subjects with abnormal SA-ECG parameters. There were significant gender differences among controls, but not among MDMA users. Conclusion: These findings suggest that chronic MDMA use is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively associated with a high prevalence of abnormal SA-ECG parameters indicative of VLP markers.
KW - Cannabis
KW - MDMA
KW - Signal-averaged ECG
KW - Ventricular late potentials
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U2 - 10.1080/00952990802308254
DO - 10.1080/00952990802308254
M3 - Article
C2 - 18855243
AN - SCOPUS:56549098070
SN - 0095-2990
VL - 34
SP - 712
EP - 720
JO - American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
JF - American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse
IS - 6
ER -