Pharmacologic therapy of ventricular tachycardia using electrophysiologic techniques.

Serial pharmacologic trials guided by electrophysiologic techniques provide an objective method for instituting effective medical therapy in patients with sustained ventricular arrhythmias. Suppression of induced ventricular tachycardia by administered antiarrhythmic agents predicts the results of chronic treatment with a high degree of accuracy. Although some controversy exists with regard to precise stimulation protocols, the ability to evaluate the advantages and potentially detrimental actions of individual drugs in a controlled environment contributes substantially to the utility of electrophysiologic testing in the selection of an optimal antiarrhythmic regimen.