[The effectiveness of barucainide in supraventriculr and ventricular arrhythmias].

The anti-arrhythmic efficacy of barucainide, a new class IB anti-arrhythmic agent, was evaluated in an open-label therapeutic study in a total of 15 patients with coronary artery disease. The majority of patients had a history of myocardial infarction. After a 3-day placebo run-in period barucainide was administered at a dose of 150 mg b.d. for 5 days followed by a 4-day placebo wash-out period. 24-h Holter monitorings were recorded in the run-in period, on day 4 of the treatment period, and on day 3 of the wash-out period. In addition, plasma levels were determined in all three periods. Statistical evaluation of the 24-h arrhythmia analyses revealed a decrease of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) in all treated patients. Before treatment PVCs occurred at a median of 92.4/h (minimum 19/maximum 1537 PVCs/h); this value was reduced during treatment to a median of 7.9 (0/427) PVCs/h (p less than 0.01). A similar result was also found for the couplets which decreased significantly from a median (min/max) of 0.6 (0/11)/h before treatment with barucainide to 0.1 (0/3)/h after treatment (p less than 0.05). In 10 of 15 patients premature ventricular contractions were reduced by more than 80%. Ventricular tachycardia present in 4 of 15 patients was suppressed in all cases. Barucainide had only a slight effect on PQ and QTc intervals, QRS duration, heart rate, and blood pressure.