title: Outpatient evaluation and management of patients with ventricular premature beats or non-sustained ventricular tachycardia.
abstract: In this survey, European physicians who deal with arrhythmia patients gave their opinions about diagnostic work up when they see patients with ventricular premature beats (VPBs) or non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT). In general, similar work-up regimens were used for these two arrhythmias except for coronary angiography, which was considered by one in four physicians when dealing with NSVT but by almost none for VPBs. The majority of physicians believe that it is acceptable to abstain from pharmacological therapy in an asymptomatic patient with VPBs. When considering second-line therapy almost half of the respondents would consider amiodarone in patients with NSVT whereas almost none would when dealing with VPBs. When the effect of therapy was evaluated, its influence on symptoms and arrhythmia burden were ranked highest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. hastrup@rh.dk
authors.forename: Jesper Hastrup
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Svendsen
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goette
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dobreanu
authors.forename: Germanas
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marinskis
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mabo
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blomström-Lundqvist
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D018879:Ventricular Premature Complexes / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents