To exploit the antiarrhythmic effect of amiodarone when patients develop the side effect of thyrotoxicosis three patients with hyperthyroidism induced by amiodarone were given simultaneously 1 g potassium perchlorate a day for 40 days and a starting dose of 40 mg methimazole a day while they continued to take amiodarone. As hyperthyroidism might have recurred after potassium perchlorate treatme...

INTRODUCTION A corridor of double potentials along the ablation line has been recognized to be an indicator of complete cavotricuspid isthmus block. Isoproterenol is used to confirm cavotricuspid isthmus block, but the effects of isoproterenol on the double potential interval (DPI), either in the absence or presence of amiodarone, are unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty-two patients with isth...

AIMS Not all patients at risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD) are eligible for, or have access to implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation. There are conflicting data regarding the efficacy and safety of amiodarone for the prevention of SCD. METHODS AND RESULTS We conducted a meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials examining the use of amiodarone vs. placebo/control ...

Amiodarone has emerged as the leading antiarrhythmic therapy for termination and prevention of ventricular arrhythmia in different clinical settings because of its proven efficacy and safety. In patients with shock refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and hemodynamically destabilizing ventricular arrhythmia, amiodarone is the most effective drug available to assist in resuscitation. Althou...

We investigated chronic effects of amiodarone on Na+/Ca2+ exchange current (INCX) and on the level of Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX1) mRNA in guinea pig ventricular myocytes using the whole-cell clamp technique and RT-PCR analysis, respectively. Guinea pigs were intraperitoneally injected with 80 mg/kg per day of amiodarone or the vehicle (saline) for 1 or 4 weeks. Single ventricular cells were isola...

It has been suggested that some of the effects of long-term amiodarone therapy may be due to accumulation of a metabolite, desethylamiodarone. To evaluate the pharmacologic actions of the metabolite, we gave single intravenous doses (10 or 25 mg/kg) of amiodarone or desethylamiodarone to anesthetized dogs. The resulting plasma and myocardial concentrations of both agents were similar to levels ...

Amiodarone is a widely used antiarrhythmic agent. Among its various adverse effects, amiodarone-induced pulmonary toxicity (APT) is the most life threatening complication, which has been described mostly in patients who have been in treatment with high accumulative doses for a long duration of time. However, amiodarone therapy in short-term duration induced APT was rarely reported. We describe ...

Hyperthyroidism is a rare side effect of amiodarone treatment. Four patients with this untoward effect are described One patient with mild hyperthyroidism before treatment with amiodarone, developed prolonged severe resistant thyrotoxicosis 6 months after initiation of this drug. A second patient with Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation was successfully stabilized w...

BACKGROUND Amiodarone is widely used in adults with congenital heart disease, but no systematic study has been published on its effects on thyroid function in these patients. A retrospective study was performed to examine the frequency of amiodarone-associated thyroid dysfunction in adults with congenital heart disease and to identify any contributing factors. METHODS AND RESULTS All adults (...

AIMS The purpose of this trial was to compare the long-term efficacy of low-dose amiodarone with losartan and perindopril (both combined with low-dose amiodarone) for the prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence in patients with lone paroxysmal AF. METHODS AND RESULTS One-hundred and seventy-seven patients with lone paroxysmal AF were randomly assigned to three treatment groups: grou...