Antiarrhythmic Drugs: Good for Premature Ventricular Complexes but Bad for Patients?
Authors: Alfred E. Buxton
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1992)

Editorials1 March 1992Antiarrhythmic Drugs: Good for Premature Ventricular Complexes but Bad for Patients?Alfred E. Buxton, MDAlfred E. Buxton, MDAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-116-5-420 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptMoricizine, a relatively new antiarrhythmic agent in the United States, was developed primarily because of its potent ability to suppress premature ventricular complexes (1). It shares these effects with other type IC antiarrhythmic agents such as encainide and flecainide. In this issue ofAnnals, two studies of the effects of moricizine in patients with sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias are reported (2, 3). All but 1 of the 47 patients studied had sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia induced by electrophysiologic testing in the absence of antiarrhythmic drugs. Suppression of the inducible sustained ventricular tachycardia in response to moricizine was achieved in only three...References1. . Effects of encainide, flecainide, imipramine and moricizine on ventricular arrhythmias during the year after acute myocardial infarction. The CAPS. Am J Cardiol. 1988;61:501-9. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Damle R, Levine J, Matos J, Greenberg S, Brooks R, and Frumkin W. Moricizine in inducible sustained ventricular tachycardia. Ann Intern Med. 1992;116:375-81. LinkGoogle Scholar3. Powell A, Gold M, Brooks K, Garan H, Ruskin J, and McGovern B. Electrophysiologic response to moricizine in patients with sustained ventricular arrhythmias. Ann Intern Med. 1992;116:382-7. LinkGoogle Scholar4. Weintraub A, Manolis A, and Estes N. Electrophysiologic and electrocardiographic effects, efficacy and safety of encainide in malignant ventricular arrhythmias associated with coronary artery disease. Am J Cardiol. 1990;66:947-53. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Herre J, Titus C, Oeff M, Eldar M, Franz M, and Griffin J. Inefficacy and proarrhythmic effects of flecainide and encainide for sustained ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. Ann Intern Med. 1990;113:671-6. LinkGoogle Scholar6. Winkle R, Mason J, Griffin J, and Ross D. Malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias associated with the use of encainide. Am Heart J. 1981;102:857-61. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Wyndham C, Pratt C, Mann D, Winkle R, Somberg J, and De Maria A. Electrophysiology of ethmozine (Moricizine HCl) for ventricular tachcyardia. Am J Cardiol. 1987;60:67F-72F. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar8. Almendral J, Stamato N, Rosenthal M, Marchlinski F, Miller J, and Josephson M. Resetting response patterns during sustained ventricular tachycardia: relationship to the excitable gap. Circulation. 1986;74:722-30. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar9. Kay G, Epstein A, and Plumb V. Incidence of reentry with an excitable gap in ventricular tachycardia: a prospective evaluation utilizing transient entrainment. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1988;11:530-8. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar10. Stamato N, Frame L, Rosenthal M, Almendral J, Gottlieb C, and Josephson M. Procainamide-induced slowing of ventricular tachcyardia with insights from analysis of resetting response patterns. Am J Cardiol. 1989;63:1455-61. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar11. . Preliminary report: Effect of encainide and flecainide on mortality in a randomized trial of arrhythmia suppression after myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 1989;321:406-12. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar12. . The ESVEM Trial: Electrophysiologic study versus electrocardiographic monitoring for selection of antiarrhythmic therapy of ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Circulation. 1989;79:1354-60. CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar This content is PDF only. To continue reading please click on the PDF icon. Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Alfred E. Buxton, MDAffiliations: Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine Philadelphia, PA 19104 PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byArrhythmias in Heart Failure:.Experimental Models for the Assessment of Antiarrhythmic and Proarrhythmic Drug Action: Traditional and Newer ModelsArrhythmias during phenol therapies: a specific action on cardiac sodium channels?Future expectations in cardiomyoplasty.LiteraturAntiarrhythmic versus antifibrillatory actions: Inference from experimental studies 1 March 1992Volume 116, Issue 5Page: 420-422KeywordsDrugsTachycardiaVentricular tachycardia ePublished: 1 December 2008 Issue Published: 1 March 1992 PDF downloadLoading ...