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Bradycardia, Reversible Panconduction Defect and Syncope following Self-Medication with a Homeopathic Medicine

1999; Karger Publishers; Volume: 91; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1159/000006922

1421-9751

Santanu Guha, Buddhadeb Dawn, Goutam Dutta, Tapas Chakraborty, Shantashil Pain,

Traditional Chinese Medicine Analysis

Alkaloid extracts from the plant <i>Aconitum</i> species have been used in various forms of herbal remedies predominantly as anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents. Many of these alkaloids are extremely potent cardiotoxins and documented cases of various arrhythmias with fatal outcomes have been reported. We report a case of self-medication with ‘tincture of aconite’ resulting in severe bradycardia, reversible panconduction defect evidenced by sinus inactivity, atrioventricular dissociation with idiojunctional rhythm and left bundle branch block pattern resulting in hypotension and syncope. Complete reversal of ECG findings with marked improvement in symptoms was noted within a few hours. Herbal medicines containing aconite alkaloids may result in severe cardiotoxicity, and strict regulatory measures are warranted to curb unsupervised use for therapeutic purposes.