Double Edged Sword Cardiac Side Effect of Ondansetron: A Case Report

During the intra-operative time under anaesthesia, sudden onset of bradycardia is not unusual. It can be due to deeper planes of anesthesia, high spinal anesthesia, a surgical stimulus of the parasym-pathetic system, already existing cardiac disease, treatment with beta-blockers or use of intraoperative drugs like Clonidine, Dexmedetomidine. Cardiac arrhythmias have been related to ondansetron, especially in patients with QT prolongation. In this chapter, we are reporting the sixth case of Ondansetron induced sudden onset of severe bradycardia which when treated resulted in atrial and ventricular ectopics with hypertension in 25yr old female patient who came for elective Lower Segment Caesarean Section. We strongly believe that Ondansetron is the explanation behind the sudden occurrence of bradycardia in this patient, since even though the patient had SLE, she had no signs of the disease's cardiac involve-ment.