Antiarrhythmic Agents and the Danger of Proarrhythmic Events

Excerpt

Only in the last decade have the proarrhythmic effects of antiarrhythmic agents been evaluated. Most recent studies (1-3) have focused on drugs used to treat ventricular arrhythmias. These studies have dealt with patients primarily being treated for ventricular arrhythmias. The ventricular proarrhythmic effect of these agents has not been evaluated carefully when used to manage supraventricular arrhythmias despite the fact that the induction of polymorphic ventricular tachycardia by antiarrhythmic agents was initially documented in patients being treated for atrial fibrillation (4). Thus, whereas much of the attention to ventricular proarrhythmias has been on treatment of ventricular arrhythmias, similar attention must