A study of the use of flecainide acetate in the long-term management of cardiac arrhythmias.
One hundred and sixty-nine patients with a wide range of cardiac arrhythmias and who had been treated with chronic oral flecainide acetate were reviewed retrospectively. The most common arrhythmia was atrial fibrillation (32%), and 20% of the patient population had the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Five hundred and three treatment episodes were assessed, 254 with flecainide alone or in combination, mean duration 7.3 +/- 9.4 months, and 249 without flecainide, mean duration 9.5 +/- 12.3 months. The most common dose for flecainide was 200 mg/day (57% of episodes), and it was used alone in 82% of flecainide treatment episodes. Arrhythmia frequency was reduced or abolished in 73% of flecainide treatment episodes, with little difference between arrhythmia groups. Unwanted effects were seen in 14% of flecainide treatment episodes, and half of these cases were managed by dose adjustment. It is concluded that flecainide acetate is effective in a wide range of cardiac arrhythmias, and that long-term management problems are few.
Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio.
M N
MN
Wiseman
J E
JE
Elstob
A J
AJ
Camm
A W
AW
Nathan
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D005424:Flecainide / Q000627:therapeutic use* / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013617:Tachycardia, Supraventricular / Q000188:drug therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D014927:Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents; D005424:Flecainide