Adenosine-induced ventricular arrhythmias in patients with supraventricular tachycardias.
BACKGROUND
Adenosine is widely used for the diagnosis and the termination of supraventricular arrhythmias. There are many case reports and few series about the proarrhythmic potential of adenosine. We sought to evaluate the proarrhythmic potential of adenosine used to terminate the supraventricular arrhythmias.


METHODS
The records of all patients that received adenosine for the termination of supraventricular tachycardia were reviewed retrospectively and those with a continuous electrocardiographic (ECG) recording during adenosine administration were included to the study.


RESULTS
Our search identified 52 supraventricular episodes of 46 patients with a continuous ECG recording during adenosine administration. Following adenosine administration, premature ventricular contraction (PVC) or ventricular tachycardia (VT) developed in 22 (47.8%) patients and in 26 (50%) tachycardia episodes. No patient had a sustained VT. Nonsustained VT developed in eight (17.4%) patients. All VT episodes were polymorphic, short, and self-terminating. When the basal and demographic properties of patients with PVC or VT and those without PVT or VT were compared, there was no significant difference.


CONCLUSIONS
Adenosine is a quite safe and effective drug for the termination of narrow QRS complex tachycardia but it often induces nonsustained VT or PVC that are clinically insignificant in the absence of other accompanying heart disease.
Ertan
Cagatay
C
Başkent University, School of Medicine, Department of Cardiology, Ankara, Turkey.
Atar
Ilyas
I
Gulmez
Oyku
O
Atar
Asli
A
Ozgul
Aliseydi
A
Aydinalp
Alp
A
Müderrisoğlu
Haldun
H
Ozin
Bülent
B
D000241:Adenosine / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000139:chemically induced*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013617:Tachycardia, Supraventricular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents; D000241:Adenosine