title: Effect of almokalant, a selective potassium channel blocker, on the termination and inducibility of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardias: a study in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia. Almokalant PSVT Study Group.
abstract: Almokalant is a newly developed selective blocker of the delayed outward K+ current and exhibits the electrophysiological properties of a class III antiarrhythmic agent. In a Scandinavian multicenter, placebo-controlled trial, the antiarrhythmic efficacy of almokalant was investigated in patients with paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia: 87 patients with mean age of 50 +/- 14 years (range 21-71 years), with reciprocating tachycardia due to either Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome (n = 58) or atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia (AVNRT) (n = 29) were studied with transesophageal atrial stimulation. After a baseline procedure, during which sustained tachycardia was induced and overdrive terminated, tachycardia was reinduced and an intravenous (i.v.) infusion of either placebo or almokalant (aiming at a pseudoequilibrium plasma level of 20, 50, 100, or 150 nM) (Cpl 20-Cpl 150), was administered. Each patient was studied at two Cpl. Thirty-nine patients were randomly assigned in a double-blind fashion to either placebo+almokalant at Cpl 20 or Cpl 20 + Cpl 50; 26 patients were studied openly at Cpl 50 + Cpl 100, and 22 were studied openly at Cpl 100 + Cpl 150 almokalant. The antiarrhythmic efficacy was assessed as the ability to terminate induced tachycardia and to suppress inducibility: The proportion of patients in which the tachycardia was terminated was placebo 3 of 20 (15%); Cpl 20, 7 of 36 (19%): Cpl 50, 10 of 36 (28%); Cpl 100, 14 of 35 (40%); and Cpl 150, 5 of 9 (56%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers; D011412:Propanolamines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013611:Tachycardia, Atrioventricular Nodal Reentry / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014927:Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents; D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers; D011412:Propanolamines; C074334:almokalant