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Treatment of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia with oral diltiazem
Author(s) -
Clair Walter K,
Wilkinson William E,
McCarthy Elizabeth A,
Pritchett Edward L C
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1038/clpt.1992.63
Subject(s) - diltiazem , medicine , tachycardia , placebo , supraventricular tachycardia , crossover study , anesthesia , confidence interval , paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia , cardiology , heart rate , blood pressure , alternative medicine , pathology , calcium
Symptomatic paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia is a troubling arrhythmia for many patients. To test the efficacy of oral diltiazem to reduce symptomatic recurrences of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, we enrolled 17 patients in a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled crossover study. Sixteen of 17 patients completed a dose‐ranging phase and were entered into the randomized phase. Although the time to first recurrence of tachycardia was slightly longer when patients took diltiazem, the difference was not significant ( p = 0.15). The hazard ratio of the time to first recurrence on placebo compared with oral diltiazem was 2.7 (95% confidence interval, 0.8 to 9.1). Of the patients who had a recurrence of tachycardia in both treatment periods, the median reduction in heart rate in patients receiving diltiazem was 20 beats/min. ( p < 0.01; 95% confidence interval, 6 to 42). Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1992) 51 , 562–565; doi: 10.1038/clpt.1992.63