PMID: 8595794Aug 1, 1995Paper

Future prospects of antiarrhythmic treatment based on experimental studies

European Heart Journal
M J Janse

Abstract

Based on recent experimental studies, a number of speculations about future developments are made regarding the treatment of atrial fibrillation, the problem of proarrhythmia in patients with heart failure, and the treatment of ventricular tachycardia developing during the first 6 weeks following the onset of myocardial infarction. Rapid atrial pacing, or atrial fibrillation, leads to a shortening of the atrial refractory period which persists for a long time following cardioversion. This 'cardiac memory', which also exists on the ventricular level, favours re-induction of atrial fibrillation because the wavelength for re-entry is reduced. Future development of drugs that would prolong the atrial action potential after prolonged periods of atrial fibrillation would increase the success of cardioversion. Although atrial fibrillation is probably most often caused by multiple wavelet re-entry, recent studies show that in some instances a small stable re-entrant circuit is responsible for the arrhythmia. If catheter mapping could reliably localize such a circuit, catheter ablation may be a new therapeutic option. Drug treatment for atrial fibrillation carries a high risk for mortality in patients with heart failure. The arrhythmoge...Continue Reading

Citations

Jun 10, 2000·Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension·H Mattix, A K Singh
Feb 18, 2011·The Nurse Practitioner·Kristen Luttenberger, Mary DiNapoli
Apr 1, 1997·Nature Medicine·M J Lab
Sep 21, 2011·Annals of Biomedical Engineering·Ying Chen, Wenxi Chen
Mar 1, 1997·Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry·A RöslerH J Braune

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