Sustained prolongation of the QTc interval after anesthesia with sevoflurane in infants during the first 6 months of life.

Background: Sevoflurane, an inhalational anesthetic frequently administered to infants, prolongs the QT interval of the electrocardiogram in adults. A long QT interval resulting in fatal arrhythmia may also be responsible for some cases of sudden death in infants. As the QT interval increases during the second month of life and returns to the values recorded at birth by the sixth month, we evaluated the effect of sevoflurane on the QT interval during and after anesthesia in this particular population.