BACKGROUND It has been reported that bepridil is as good as amiodarone in converting persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) to sinus rhythm (SR). The conversion effect of bepridil alone is not always satisfactory, however. The efficacy of pharmacological cardioversion by the combination of bepridil and a class Ic antiarrhythmic drug for persistent AF is studied. METHODS AND RESULTS The participa...

Most antiarrhythmic drugs are potent compounds with a relatively narrow therapeutic index. When prescribed judiciously, they can have a key role in enhancing or prolonging the lives of patients with most common arrhythmias. But when misprescribed, through selection of an inappropriate drug or dosage regimen, the end result may range from inadequate control of the arrhythmia to a proarrhythmic e...

AIMS Some atrial fibrillation (AF) patients develop excessive QTc prolongation and torsade de pointes when they take QTc-prolonging antiarrhythmic drugs (class IA/III) immediately after termination of AF. We hypothesized that this is caused by changes in ventricular repolarization during AF. We aimed to establish whether such 'ventricular repolarization remodelling' occurs. METHODS AND RESULT...

Antiarrhythmic activity of amiodarone's desethyl metabolite, which accumulates during oral amiodarone therapy, has been postulated to explain the delayed onset of antiarrhythmic effects during long-term amiodarone therapy. To determine their relative antiarrhythmic efficacy, amiodarone and its desethyl metabolite, desethylamiodarone, were administered to mongrel dogs with ventricular tachycardi...

We tested antiarrhythmic and endothelial action of novel decahydroquinoline derivatives. Antiarrhythmic activity was analyzed using models of aconitine-, calcium chloride-, and adrenaline-induced arrhythmias in rats. Potency to induce nitric oxide (NO)-dependent coronary vasodilation was assessed in isolated guinea pig heart perfused according to Langendorff technique. Among 15 novel decahydroq...

In the early 1960s, we used the few antiarrhythmic drugs available empirically, presuming that every premature ventricular contraction had to be suppressed. This presumption spurred ever greater effort, much of it going into antiarrhythmic drug development.' Throughout the 1980s, one new drug was being developed about every six months,2 and the number of antiarrhythmic prescriptions rose expone...

Antiarrhythmic drugs need to be initiated in up to 70% of patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) in order to treat atrial tachyarrhythmias, decrease the frequency of defibrillator shocks, and terminate ventricular arrhythmias along with antitachycardia pacing. trial fibrillation (AF) occurs in about 20% of patients with ICDs (the majority with congestive heart failure [CHF...

The effect of selective beta-receptor blockade on adrenaline-evoked ventricular arrhythmias was studied in atropinized dogs anaesthetized with halothane in oxygen. Cardiac beta-receptors were selectively blocked with ICI 50172, while the peripheral vascular beta-receptors were selectively blocked with H 35/25. ICI 50172 prevented adrenaline-evoked ventricular arrhythmias and the increase in sin...

This study assessed the antiarrhythmic activity of amiloride in 35 patients with inducible sustained ventricular tachycardia. Patients had failed to respond to 3.6±1.0 antiarrhythmic drugs. Ventricular tachycardia was reproducibly induced by programmed electrical stimulation in all patients at the baseline study. Amiloride was given at 10 and 20 mg/day p.o. on a twice-daily schedule that achiev...

Despite advances in catheter ablation techniques and device-based therapies for cardiac arrhythmias, antiarrhythmic drugs remain essential components of any comprehensive therapeutic strategy. Antiarrhythmic drug therapy, however, has been limited by both incomplete efficacy and a substantial potential for cardiac and extracardiac toxicity. As a result, only a few new antiarrhythmic agents have...