Acute electrophysiologic effects of an HT2-serotonin antagonist, ketanserin, in humans

The acute electrophysiologic effects of an intravenous bolus of ketanserin, a 5HT2 serotonin blocker, were studied in ten patients (four females, six males) during invasive electrophysiology. Following baseline electrophysiologic measurements during sinus rhythm and fixed-rate atrial pacing at 600 ms, a bolus of 0.2 mg/kg ketanserin was given over a 3-minute period. After 30 minutes all measurements were repeated. Systemic blood pressure was measured at regular intervals throughout. During sinus rhythm, there was no significant change in the basic cycle length or in the PA, AH, HV, QRS, QT, and QTc intervals. During atrial pacing there was a nonsignificant increase in the QT interval, from 342 +/- 13 ms to 366 +/- 16 ms, and a significant increase in the QTc interval, from 422 +/- 27 ms to 449 +/- 29 ms (p less than 0.05). There was no reduction in blood pressure. Thus ketanserin produced a significant prolongation of the QTc interval, in the absence of hypokalemia, in humans.