[Amiodarone prophylaxis of ventricular tachycardia in ischemic cardiopathy].
Sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) in coronary heart disease (CHD) represents a major risk factor for sudden death. The Authors evaluated the prophylactic efficacy of the chronic administration of amiodarone (A) on this arrhythmia and simultaneously the trend of ventricular extrasystole during the antiarrhythmic treatment. Twenty-three patients were examined, 17 with post-infarction cardiopathy and 6 with mixed angina. They showed either 1 or more episodes (2 patients) of sustained VT involving hemodynamic difficulties. The ejection fraction (EF) ranged between 20 and 45% average (35.2 +/- 9). All patients underwent a basal 24 hour ECG 3 days after the VT cardioversion, and every 6 months. All subjects took A orally for a period ranging from 7 to 67 months (average 23.04 +/- 14) at the dose of 800 mg/day 7 for days, and then 200 or 400 mg/day according to the presence or absence of ventricular extrasystoles (VE) greater than or equal to 30/hr and/or Lown's class (L) greater than or equal to 3. No patients died suddenly during the follow-up; 6 of them died for causes other than arrhythmia. Four of them showed only 1 sustained VT relapse after a period of 6 to 11 months. Two of these 4 patients showed a persistent increase of the number of VE and L-class while, in the remaining 2 patients, the number of VE remained substantially unchanged.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Bernasconi
M
M
Pogna
M
M
Potenza
S
S
Marzegalli
M
M
Cirino
D
D
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000638:Amiodarone / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications*; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000517:prevention & control; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*
D000638:Amiodarone
Profilassi con amiodarone della tachicardia ventricolare nella cardiopatia ischemica.