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Case Reports
. 2020 Oct 24;12(10):e11132.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.11132.

Cardiac Adverse Events With Remdesivir in COVID-19 Infection

Anupam K Gupta  1 , Barbara M Parker  2 , Vikash Priyadarshi  3 , John Parker  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Cardiac Adverse Events With Remdesivir in COVID-19 Infection

Anupam K Gupta et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Since December 2019, coronavirus has gradually progressed to a pandemic with no efficacious treatment. Remdesivir is an antiviral medication and inhibitor of viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase with inhibitory action against SARS-CoV virus. Two patients diagnosed with coronavirus infection with worsening respiratory status were initiated with multimodality therapy with antibiotics, steroids and remdesivir. After initiation of remdesivir, the patients' developed bradycardia, with one of the two also showing signs of worsening QT interval. This reverted upon stopping remdesvir therapy. The prevalence of bradycardia with prolonged QT interval is not well-known yet with this medication.

Keywords: bradycardia; qtc prolongation; remdesivir.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. EKG showing normal sinus rhythm with ventricular rate 77bpm and normal QT/QTc interval 388/439 ms
Figure 2
Figure 2. EKG on the third day of remdesivir treatment. Marked sinus bradycardia with ventricular rate of 44 bpm, nonspecific T wave abnormality, and prolonged QT/QTc interval 628/555 ms
Figure 3
Figure 3. EKG two days post-remdesivir discontinuation showing sinus rhythm, with ventricular rate of 64 bpm, and normalizing QT/QTc of 448/448 ms
Figure 4
Figure 4. Changes in heart rate (bpm) from day one to day three (time of discontinuation) of a five day course of remdesivir treatment for patient cases one and two
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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