What are the cardiac side effects of levodopa? I read hypertension and hypotension and I didn't understand
What are the cardiac side effects of levodopa?
Question posted by mariamafa on 24 April 2021
Last updated on 27 April 2021
Answers
masso
25 April 2021
Cardiovascular
Common (1% to 10%): Chest discomfort, orthostatic hypotension/blood pressure decreased
Source: Drugs.com
The most serious side effect of levodopa in patients is ventricular arrhythmia which is unlikely to occur in a subject with normal heart but a risk in patients with myocardial irritability or ischemia.
Source: American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
mariamafa
26 April 2021
Thank you very much. What is the mechanism of this side effect?
masso
27 April 2021
You are welcome:
"Cardiac arrhythmias have been recognized as a key complication of heart diseases for centuries. Generally defined, cardiac arrhythmias refer to conditions in which the electrical activity of the heart becomes too slow, too fast, and/or too irregular. Slow heart rhythms can be readily treated with electronic pacemakers, but rapid heart rhythms that culminate in atrial fibrillation or ventricular fibrillation (VF), in which the electrical activity in the atria or ventricles becomes turbulent, remain leading causes of morbidity and mortality, including sudden cardiac death, particularly in industrialized countries. From the first demonstration of electrical activity of the heart in 1856 to today’s modern technologies unraveling the genetic basis of many cardiac arrhythmias, this problem has been a major focus of medicine for more than a century. However, successful pharmacological treatment is still problematic.
Current antiarrhythmic drugs have limited effectiveness, and many can have unintended proarrhythmic effects. The most effective treatment for VF is an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which can promptly and effectively terminate life-threatening arrhythmias. However, 80% of patients who will die suddenly each year in the United States do not meet current clinical criteria for prophylactic implantation of an ICD; moreover, even among those who do meet such criteria, only one in five ICDs will deliver a life-saving shock because of the difficulty in identifying those at highest risk (9). Additionally, ICD treatment is expensive and has significant morbidity."
Source: US National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
masso
27 April 2021
"Ventricular arrhythmias have complex causes and mechanisms. Despite extensive investigation involving many clinical, experimental, and computational studies, effective biological therapeutics are still very limited."
Source: US National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
masso
27 April 2021
"Ventricular arrhythmias are abnormal heartbeats that originate in your lower heart chambers, called ventricles. These types of arrhythmias cause your heart to beat too fast, which prevents oxygen-rich blood from circulating to the brain and body and may result in cardiac arrest."
Source: Stanford Health Care
Related topics
hypotension, parkinson's disease, levodopa, hypertension, side effect, cardiac
Further information
Similar questions
Search for questions
Still looking for answers? Try searching for what you seek or ask your own question.
