However, their

cohort consisted of a limited number of patients and serious arrhythmias could occur occasionally. Teragawa et al.11 studied 295 HCV-infected patients during their treatment course of IFN therapy and after one year. They found that 4 (1.4%) patients developed arrhythmias; this was only 40% of the overall cardiovascular complications of HCV treatment. Fujiwara et al.12 reported the case of a 64-year-old man infected with HCV. Seven days after starting IFN, the patient developed a giant T wave inversion visualized on a check-up electrocardiogram Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (ECG). In addition, ten days after IFN administration the patient’s clinical symptoms included fatigue, palpitations, a depressive feeling, tachycardia of 100 beats/min, supraventricular premature beats, atrial fibrillation, and septal and apical hypertrophy. At four days after cessation of IFN therapy the patient’s subjective symptoms improved and atrial fibrillation disappeared, however his giant T wave inversion and apical hypertrophy remained detectable Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical several months after the IWR-1 concentration discontinuation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the drug. Another case report from Poland indicated atrioventricular (AV) conduction disturbances in the form of a second-degree AV block in a 55-year-old

woman with no known cardiac disorders prior to treatment with pegylated IFN (PEG-IFN) therapy for an HCV infection.13 Drug cessation resulted in a significant drop in the electrocardiographic disturbances. These cases have shown that although the discontinuation of PEG-IFN can revert some arrhythmic changes, however others are likely to remain. In hemophilic patients simultaneously infected with HCV Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and HIV, therapy with IFN-alpha-2a has been associated with a 14% incident rate of tachycardia, leading to a decrease in the administered

IFN dose.14 Torsades de pointes,15 sinus bradycardia,16,17 transient sinus tachycardia and premature ventricular beats18 have been observed in HCV-infected patients undergoing Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical IFN therapy. They have occasionally resulted in the cessation or dose reduction of the drug. There are also reports indicative of thyroiditis and associated arrhythmias, especially tachycardia, after the administration of IFN-alpha in HCV-infected patients; this issue has been very well reviewed by Menconi et al.19 Pericarditis and Myocarditis after Interferon (IFN) Therapy in HCV-Infected Patients PDK4 Teragawa et al.11 reported a case of pericarditis that developed in an HCV-infected individual on IFN therapy. Since then, several other studies have reported similar cases.20,21 Boonen et al.22 reported a 24-year-old woman that underwent IFN-alpha therapy for HCV infection and subsequently developed pericarditis; later tests showed that she all criteria necessary for the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).