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Olanzapine Induced Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT)

Category CASE_STUDY
Authors Vatsala Sharma, Geeta Shyamsunder Soohinda, Harshavardhan Sampath, Sanjiba Dutta
Abstract Olanzapine is one of the most widely used atypical antipsychotics. Initial years of promise were belied with emerging evidence of metabolic complications. Despite these adverse effects, olanzapine continues to be widely prescribed and generally considered safe in patients who do not have metabolic risk factors. We report the case of a 47-year-old female patient admitted for an acute psychotic episode treated with a therapeutic dose of olanzapine who developed supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) with cardiovascular compromise. Though considered safe, with QTc prolongation reported in less than 0.1% of patients, olanzapine can in rare instances be associated with cardiac conduction abnormalities. Our patient had no preexisting cardiac illness and her ECG during admission showed no evidence of abnormality. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of olanzapine inducing SVT in the therapeutic dose range. KEYWORDS: Adverse effects, Olanzapine, Supraventricular tachycardia.
Year 2018
Month April
Volume 7
Issue 2
Published On 19 Apr 2018
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