Publication:

Study of electrocardiographic changes pattern in cases of snake bites in a tertiary care hospital of Mahakaushal area of central India

Background Snake bite is an occupational hazard for farmers and farm laborers in the Indian subcontinent. Most snake venom can adversely affect multiple organs. Various ECG changes have been reported in a large percentage of cases of snake bite (particularly viper and krait) from time to time. Thus, cardiotoxicity was studied with ECG.

Methods This cross-sectional observational study was carried on 84 patients admitted in Ward/ICU, Department Of Medicine, NSCB Medical College, Jabalpur, India on patients of snake bite reporting from all over Mahakaushal area of central India from March 2017 to August 2018.

Results The commonest manifestation in vasculotoxic snake bite was tachycardia (16.67%). On admission, ECG manifestations were 39.1% in poisonous bites were sinus tachycardia (17.8%), sinus bradycardia (9.5%), nonspecific ST-T changes (5.9%), AV block (3.5%) and sinus arrhythmia (2.3%) of all cases. These ECG changes were 2.3% in nonpoisonous patients. In symptomatic cases mortality was 19% with no mortality was seen in non-poisonous snake bite. There was significant difference between outcome of abnormal ECG group and normal ECG group patients (p <0.005).

Conclusions There is significant impact of snake poisons on cardiovascular profile and ECG can be a useful tool to predict outcome.