title: [Management of ventricular arrhythmia in chronic congestive heart failure].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate efficacy and indications of therapy for ventricular arrhythmias in patients with chronic congestive heart failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  A review of most significant and recent clinical trials was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction, the desirable actions of antiarrhythmic drugs are attenuated and their negative inotropic and proarrhythmic actions are enhanced. Treatment should be limited to patients with malignant ventricular arrhythmias, or to patients considered at high risk. When indicated, amiodarone is usually well tolerated and safe. The prevention of sudden death in patients with heart failure should be based on optimized therapy of pump failure, reducing left ventricle work load and modulating neurohormonal systems with ACE-inhibitors and betablockers drugs. Further, an important role is held by anti-ischemic therapy, revascularization procedures, anticoagulant therapy and prevention of electrolytes unbalances. Patients with sustained of high risk arrhythmias, resuscitated from a cardiac arrest, should be considered for transvenous Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) implant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ventricular arrhythmias are common in heart failure patients, represent an important cause of sudden death and the choice of treatment is difficult because of the complexity of underlying mechanisms, frequency of adverse reactions and the severity of left ventricular dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: II Divisione di Cardiologia, Ospedale S.Camillo, Roma, Italia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pulignano
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giovannini
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Del Sindaco
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Fera
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazza
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Minardi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giovannini
mesh_terms: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000517:prevention & control; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D004554:Electric Countershock; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents
vernacular_title: La terapia delle aritmie ventricolari nello scompenso cardiaco cronico.