Acquired Long QT Syndrome after Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Rare but Potentially Fatal Entity

Abstract

Acquired long QT syndrome is typically caused by medications, electrolyte disturbances, bradycardia, or catastrophic central nervous system events. We report a case of myocardial infarction–related acquired long QT syndrome in a 58-year-old woman that had no clear cause and progressed to torsades de pointes requiring treatment with isoproterenol and magnesium. Despite negative results of DNA testing against a known panel of genetic mutations and polymorphisms associated with long QT syndrome, the patient's family history of fatal cardiac disease suggests a predisposing genetic component. This report serves to remind clinicians of this potentially fatal ventricular arrhythmia after myocardial infarction.