Droperidol death

There have been two further reports of sudden death after the use of droperidol to sedate agitation secondary to cocaine and phencyclidine intoxication (26). Both patients were restrained by the police and were then given droperidol, either 5 mg (a 33-year-old obese man) or 10 mg (a 22-year-old man). The first patient stopped breathing 10-15 minutes later, while being transported to the emergency department he was pulseless and couldn t be resuscitated. The other patient was unresponsive on arrival at the emergency department, with agonal respirations and no detectable pulse after 30 minutes of resusci-tative efforts he was pronounced dead. 

Kao LW, Kirk MA, Evers SJ, Rosenfeld SH. Droperidol, QT prolongation, and sudden death what is the evidence Ann Emerg Med 2003 41 546-58. 

Cox RD, Koelliker DE, Bradley KG. Association between droperidol use and sudden death in two patients intoxicated with illicit stimulant drugs. Vet Hum Toxicol 2004 46 21-3. 

A 68-year-old man with a 5-year history of Alzheimer s disease was treated with thioridazine 25 mg tds because of violent outbursts (12). His other drugs, temazepam 10-30 mg at night, carbamazepine 100 mg bd for neuropathic pain, and droperidol 5-10 mg as required, were unaltered. Five days later, he was found dead, having been in his usual condition 2 hours before. Post-mortem examination showed stenosis of the coronary arteries, but no coronary thrombosis, myocardial infarction, or other significant pathology. The certified cause of death was cardiac dysrhythmia due to ischemic heart disease. Thioridazine was considered as a possible contributing factor. 

Cardiovascular A retrospective study (20,122 surgical patients who received 35,536 doses of droperidol) did not find that low-dose (0.625 mg) droperidol for postoperative nausea and vomiting was associated with an increased incidence cf polymorphic VT or death [142 ]. 

Nuttall GA, Malone AM, Michels CA, TrudeU LC, Renk TD, Marienau ME, et al. Does low-dose droperidol increase the risk of polymorphic ventrictdar tachycardia or death in the surgical patient Anesthesiology 2013 118(2) 382-6. 

---