SCHIZOPHRENIC Elisa Vartuca died of an unexplained heart attack as her brother tried in vain to help her.

At an inquest in Devizes, coroner David Masters tried to establish whether a reaction to anti-psychotic drugs had caused her heart to fail.

Miss Vartuca, 27, of Caen Hill Gardens, Devizes, was prescribed the drug Olanzapine in March. She had been a patient at Green Lane Hospital on a number of occasions before her death.

On December 18, her brother Salvadore heard a thud from the bathroom in the house he shared with her. I pushed the door open a couple of inches and I could hear an irregular snoring noise, he told the inquest.

When she didn't respond to his calls, Mr Vartuca then called an ambulance but by the time a doctor arrived, his sister was already dead.

Pathologist Dr Clare Fuller carried out a post mortem and confirmed Miss Vartuca had died because of a cardiac failure. She was unable to ascertain its cause but was concerned there could have been an allergic reaction to Olanzapine.

Dr Fuller referred her findings to a Dr Patrick Gallagher, a leading heart specialist at Southampton General Hospital. He was unable to say why the cardiac failure had occurred.

Dr Alexander Simpson, medical director for EL Lilley, the drug's manufacturer, said there had only been 6 cases of reactions to the drug which has been prescribed to 3.5 million patients. Individual cases have not given rise to something which concerns us, said Dr Simpson.

The coroner recorded an open verdict.