TY - JOUR
T1 - Amiodarone in refractory life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias
AU - Nademanee, K.
AU - Singh, B. N.
AU - Hendrickson, J.
AU - Intarachot, V.
AU - Lopez, B.
AU - Feld, G.
AU - Cannom, D. S.
AU - Weiss, J. L.
PY - 1983
Y1 - 1983
N2 - Ninety-six patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias refractory to two or more conventional agents were treated with amiodarone and followed for 6 to 40 months (mean, 15 months). Currently, 75 are alive and well. Seven patients died from nonarrhythmic and 5 from arrhythmic causes. Nonfatal arrhythmias recurred in 4 patients, 1 with early and 3 with late onset. Intolerable side effects occurred in 5 patients but heart failure was not aggravated by the drug. On 24-hour Holter recordings done before and serially during therapy in 72 patients, amiodarone eliminated episodes of ventricular tachycardia and complex ectopy and reduced total ectopic beat counts by 90% or more in all but 4 patients. In contrast, ventricular tachycardia inducible by programmed electrical stimulation was suppressed in only 50% of patients, but failure of such suppression did not compromise an excellent clinical outcome. Thus, amiodarone is highly effective in the prophylaxis of recurrent refractory life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias.
AB - Ninety-six patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias refractory to two or more conventional agents were treated with amiodarone and followed for 6 to 40 months (mean, 15 months). Currently, 75 are alive and well. Seven patients died from nonarrhythmic and 5 from arrhythmic causes. Nonfatal arrhythmias recurred in 4 patients, 1 with early and 3 with late onset. Intolerable side effects occurred in 5 patients but heart failure was not aggravated by the drug. On 24-hour Holter recordings done before and serially during therapy in 72 patients, amiodarone eliminated episodes of ventricular tachycardia and complex ectopy and reduced total ectopic beat counts by 90% or more in all but 4 patients. In contrast, ventricular tachycardia inducible by programmed electrical stimulation was suppressed in only 50% of patients, but failure of such suppression did not compromise an excellent clinical outcome. Thus, amiodarone is highly effective in the prophylaxis of recurrent refractory life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias.
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U2 - 10.7326/0003-4819-98-5-577
DO - 10.7326/0003-4819-98-5-577
M3 - Article
C2 - 6846970
AN - SCOPUS:0020532508
SN - 0309-1708
VL - 98
SP - 577
EP - 584
JO - Advances in Water Resources
JF - Advances in Water Resources
IS - 5
ER -