Cardiac arrest after ibogaine intoxication

Abstract

Abstract Ibogaine is a psychoactive herbal medication with alleged antiaddiction properties. We report a case of ibogaine intoxication mimicking Long‐QT syndrome resulting in ventricular flutter and nearby cardiac arrest. A 61‐year‐old man experienced massive QT prolongation and ventricular flutter at a rate of 270 beats per minute requiring defibrillation after ingestion of a large dose of Ibogaine. The ingested dose of 65‐70 mg/kg represents the highest survived ibogaine dose reported to date. As a result of the long plasma half‐life of ibogaine, it took 7 days for the patient's QT interval to normalize.

Keywords

• delayed QT recovery
• drug‐induced QT prolongation
• ibogaine
• long‐QT
• ventricular arrhythmia