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Concerns About Consensus Guidelines for QTc Interval Screening in Methadone Treatment
- Steven P. Cohen, MD; and
- Jianren Mao, MD, PhD
- From Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114.
TO THE EDITOR:
We read with great consternation the clinical guidelines by Krantz and colleagues (1) advocating rate-corrected QT interval (QTc) screening for methadone treatment. In our opinion, not only are the recommendations short-sighted and irresponsible, but they are also detrimental to society at large.
We foresee multidimensional problems with these guidelines. First, Krantz and colleagues do not appreciate that, for most opioid users (both former substance abusers and pain patients), methadone represents a last-resort treatment. Therefore, even if a prolonged QT interval …
