DRUG EFFECTS ON THE ELECTROCARDIOGRAM - A REVIEW OF THEIR CLINICAL IMPORTANCE

It is clear that many patients are now being treated with multiple pha rmacological agents which may alter membrane function and ionic fluxes across membranes. Therefore, these agents will frequently influence t he electrical behavioural of all excitable tissues including the myoca rdial cell. The changes in the myocardial cell are often reflected by changes, some subtle, some obvious, on the body surface electrocardiog ram. Thus, the electrocardiogram provides the physician with a reasona bly simple and inexpensive tool for monitoring drug effects and for de tecting changes that may be toxic and/or life-threatening. For this re ason, an appreciation of these changes by the noncardiologist has beco me increasingly important.