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Cocaine at the heart of cardiac complications
[26 February 2010 - 10h41]
Increasingly widespread, the use of cocaine is a matter of concern for healthcare professionals who now refer to it in terms of a veritable “epidemic”. Writing in The Lancet, Italians doctors recount the case of a 31-year old man admitted to A&E with heart failure. The risk factor? His cocaine abuse.
Hypertrophy of the left ventricle, bradycardia – an abnormally slow heart rate – and general fatigue. This was how this young patient with no previous medical history presented on arrival at A&E in Siena General Hospital. We discovered that the patient’s left ventricle was very dilated, explained the doctor who treated him. And this was due to obvious cocaine abuse. This drug is having a devastating effect among young people, both in the United States and in Europe. As it becomes increasingly cheap to buy, it is flooding western markets and bringing with it a host of cardiac complications.
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