Further, only 3 patients in sinus rhythm remained on
antiarrhythmic medication at the completion of the study.
After leaving the intensive care unit
antiarrhythmic medication (primarily amiodarone or sotalol) is reintroduced.
Similarly, many (66%) were on an
antiarrhythmic medication at the time of evaluation for the ablation procedure (although all
antiarrhythmic medication was held prior to the procedure), which included flecainide (32.4%), sotalol (19.4%), amiodarone (16.7%), dronedarone (13.0%), propafenone (9.3%), dofetilide (6.5%), and diltiazem (2.8%).
At 2 years of follow-up, 42 of these 72 patients were on disease-modifying therapies beyond lifestyle interventions, most commonly ablation procedures or
antiarrhythmic medication.
Due to amiodarone toxicity, it was decided that the patient would discontinue use of the
antiarrhythmic medication and undergo electrophysiology study and ablation.
Up to 90 percent of patients who develop Tosades de Pointes with concurrent use of non
antiarrhythmic medication, including Psychotropic medication, have been shown to have a QTc greater than 500msec.2 This further demonstrates the link between prolongation of QTc and this potentially fatal arrhythmia.
When the first line of therapy for the treatment of paroxysmal AF using
antiarrhythmic medication is ineffective, RF ablation is currently recommended as a second line of therapy for long-term cardiac arrhythmia control.
12%), and to be on an
antiarrhythmic medication (5% vs.
No specific
antiarrhythmic medication has been recommended in the guidelines for HCM in particular.
Eighty-nine percent of these patients were prescribed
antiarrhythmic medications. The rates of ventricular arrhythmic episode days was higher among those prescribed digoxin (1.68/pyr) or other antiarrhythmics (1.45/pyr) than among those prescribed beta-blockers (0.92/pyr) or no regular
antiarrhythmic medication (0.88/pyr).
Sustained tachycardia requires termination by
antiarrhythmic medication, antitachvcardia pacing techniques, or electrical cardioversion.