Significance of arrhythmias in congestive heart failure.

Patients with CHF are commonly encountered in clinical practice. Cardiac arrhythmias, particularly complex ventricular premature contractions, often occur in these patients. The presence of ventricular tachyarrhythmia, especially ventricular tachycardia, denotes a poor prognosis. Patients with CHF already have a limited life span, and the presence of ventricular arrhythmia further increases an already high death rate. Although previous reports failed to show any significant effect of treatment on mortality in patients with CHF, results of recent studies are encouraging. Several reports have shown that treatment with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and newer antiarrhythmic agents reduces the frequency of ventricular arrhythmia and decreases mortality. It is hoped that the results of these studies will be confirmed in well-controlled, large-scale, prospective trials.