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A Study of the Use of Flecainide Acetate in the Long‐Term Management of Cardiac Arrhythmias
Author(s) -
WISEMAN MARTIN N.,
ELSTOB JUNE E.,
CAMM A. JOHN,
NATHAN ANTHONY W.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1990.tb02103.x
Subject(s) - flecainide , medicine , atrial fibrillation , anesthesia , cardiology
One hundred and sixty‐nine patients with a wide range of cardiac arrhythmias and who had been treated with chronic oral flecainide acetate were reviewed retrospectively. The most common arrhythmia was atrial fibrillation (32%), and 20% of the patient population had the Wolff‐Parkinson‐White syndrome. Five hundred and three treatment episodes were assessed, 254 with flecainide alone or in combination, mean duration 7.3 ± 9.4 months, and 249 without flecainide, mean duration 9.5 ± 12.3 months. The most common dose for flecainide was 200 mg/day (57% of episodes), and it was used alone in 82% of flecainide treatment episodes. Arrhythmia frequency was reduced or abolished in 73% of flecainide treatment episodes, with little difference between arrhythmia groups. Unwanted effects were seen in 14% of flecainide treatment episodes, and half of these cases were managed by dose adjustment. It is concluded that flecainide acetate is effective in a wide range of cardiac arrhythmias, and that long‐term management problems are few.