title: Assessment of antiarrhythmic drug efficacy in the treatment of supraventricular arrhythmias.
abstract: Few guidelines exist for judging the efficacy of antiarrhythmic drugs in patients with supraventricular arrhythmias. Useful definitions concerning the frequency and duration of supraventricular arrhythmias are offered, and complete and partial efficacy criteria are outlined for noninvasive electrocardiographic and invasive electrophysiologic techniques. Several open label, double-blind, parallel and crossover study designs are suggested for efficacy studies concerning the termination and prevention of supraventricular tachycardia. These recommendations are useful for designing new drug trials needed to evaluate properly the efficacy of antiarrhythmic agents in the treatment of various supraventricular arrhythmias.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000188:drug therapy; D001283:Atrioventricular Node / Q000187:drug effects; D002648:Child; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design; D013614:Tachycardia, Paroxysmal / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control; D014927:Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents