The Lambeth Conventions are guidelines intended to be of practical value in the investigation of arrhythmias induced by ischaemia, infarction, and reperfusion. They cover the design and execution of experiments and the definition, classification, quantification, and analysis of arrhythmias. Investigators are encouraged to adopt the conventions in the hope that this will improve uniformity and interlaboratory comparisons.

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1 This study was designed to compare the proarrhythmic activity of the antimalarial drug, halofantrine and the antihistamine, terfenadine, with that of clo®lium a K + channel blocking drug that can induce torsade de pointes. 3 Clo®lium and halofantrine caused dose-dependent increases in the rate-corrected QT interval (QTc), whereas terfenadine prolonged PR and QRS intervals rather than prolonging cardiac repolarization. Progressive bradycardia occurred in all groups. After administration of the highest dose of each drug halofantrine caused a modest decrease in blood pressure, but terfenadine had profound hypotensive eects resulting in death of most rabbits. 4 The total number of ventricular premature beats was highest in the clo®lium group. Torsade de pointes occurred in 6 out of 8 clo®lium-treated rabbits and 4 out of 6 of those which received halofantrine, but was not seen in any of the seven terfenadine-treated rabbits. 5 These results show that, like clo®lium, halofantrine can cause torsade de pointes in a modi®ed anaesthetized rabbit model whereas the primary adverse eect of terfenadine was cardiac contractile failure.