American College of Cardiology
46 th Annual Scientific Session
Anaheim, C.A, March 16-19 1997

Eduardo Benchimol Saad
Sixth year medical student - The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro



Atrial Fibrilation and Atrial Flutter

Ibutilide is a recently FDA approved class III antiarrhytmic drug for the conversion of atrial fibrilation and flutter of recent onset ( less than 90 days duration ). It has been compared previously with placebo and Procainamide.





A trial of Ibutilide in post cardiac surgery patients was presented.



The dose of 1 mg was the most effective, with a conversion rate for atrial fibrilation of 45 % and for atrial flutter of 80 %. The mean time to conversion was 30 min. 2/3 of patients who converted were in sinus rhythm at 24 h. Ventricular arrhytmias occured in 9.6 % of patients, mostly PVC’s. The incidence of Torsades was less than 2 %.

The conclusion was that Ibutilide is safe and effective in post cardiac surgery patients, as long as it is administered in a setting where ventricular arrhytmias can be recognized and treated.

Another commented advance is the use of ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrilation, specially where a single reentrant circuit can be found around the pulmonary veins in the left atrium ( which occurs mainly in patients with paroxismal atrial fibrilation ). There was a reported long term success of 79 % in 36 patients.



Topics:

1 ) News in Thrombolytic agents

2 ) Unstable Angina / Non Q wave AMI

3 ) Heart Failure

4 ) Cardiac Surgery

5 ) Atrial Fibrilation and Atrial Flutter

6 ) Interventional Cardiology

7 ) Sudden Death

If you have suggestions or comments send an e-mail to Eduardo Benchimol Saad

Back to ACC 97

Back to Medstudents' Homepage