Dibucaine hydrochloride in the control of K-strophanthoside-induced ventricular tachycardia and other toxic manifestations.

Dibucaine hydrochloride in relatively small doses terminated high frequency ventricular tachycardia induced by toxic doses of K-strophanthoside in 9 of 10 dogs. Dibucaine was antidotal to glycoside-induced vagotonia and improved the alertness and apparent general condition of the animals that received it. One death occurred in the 10 strophanthoside tachycardia animals treated with dibucaine, a mortality rate of 10 per cent. Four deaths occurred in seven dogs that received similar doses of strophanthoside but no dibucaine, a mortality rate of 57 per cent.