FDA tells doctors to use heartburn drug as last resort

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a stern warning that the popular heartburn drug cisapride can cause dangerous irregular heart beats and even sudden death and should be used only as a last resort in patients with the worst cases of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease when other treatments have failed.

Patients now taking cisapride should ask their doctors about switching treatment, and doctors should not prescribe the drug without first performing electrocardiography to rule out underlying cardiac abnormalities, according to the warning. The drug's trade name is Propulsid in the United States and Prepulsid in the United Kingdom.

The administration also included in the warning some new contraindicated drugs, such …