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Amiodarone as Treatment for Atriai Tachycardias After Surgery
Author(s) -
VILLAIN ELIZABETH
Publication year - 1997
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.1540-8159.1997.tb03643.x
Subject(s) - medicine , amiodarone , atrial flutter , adverse effect , cardiology , refractory (planetary science) , anesthesia , antiarrhythmic agent , ablation , atrial fibrillation , drug , heart disease , pharmacology , physics , astrobiology
Atriai flutter, including all types of postoperative atrial tachycardias, is the one with the highest risk of late sudden death. Thus, late postoperative atrial tachycardias must be suppressed and all patients should be permanently treated after a first episode of atrial flutter. Daily oral doses of 200‐250 mg/m 2 amiodarone were found to be highly effective and well tolerated in young patients. However, in older patients and after long‐term therapy, its use is restricted by adverse side‐effects. In these cases, association of lower doses of antiarrhyth‐mic agents, including amiodarone, may be effective and well tolerated. The use of other therapeutic options such as radiofrequency ablation should also be considered in older patients having drug‐refractory postoperative atrial flutter.