title: Treatment of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia with oral diltiazem.
abstract: Symptomatic paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia is a troubling arrhythmia for many patients. To test the efficacy of oral diltiazem to reduce symptomatic recurrences of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, we enrolled 17 patients in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study. Sixteen of 17 patients completed a dose-ranging phase and were entered into the randomized phase. Although the time to first recurrence of tachycardia was slightly longer when patients took diltiazem, the difference was not significant (p = 0.15). The hazard ratio of the time to first recurrence on placebo compared with oral diltiazem was 2.7 (95% confidence interval, 0.8 to 9.1). Of the patients who had a recurrence of tachycardia in both treatment periods, the median reduction in heart rate in patients receiving diltiazem was 20 beats/min. (p less than 0.01; 95% confidence interval, 6 to 42).
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
authors.forename: W K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Clair
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Pritchett
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D004110:Diltiazem / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D013617:Tachycardia, Supraventricular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D004110:Diltiazem