Procainamide, disopyramide and quinidine: discordant antiarrhythmic effects during crossover comparison in patients with inducible ventricular tachycardia.

A crossover comparison of intravenous procainamide, disopyramide and quinidine was made in 32 patients. All three drugs had dosage-related effects on electrocardiographic intervals, refractory periods and cycle length of ventricular tachycardia. Significant linear relations between serum drug levels and changes in refractory periods and ventricular tachycardia cycle length were also observed. Ventricular tachycardia was no longer inducible on at least one drug in 11 patients but concordance of this effect on both of the others was 36% and on either of the others it was 45%. Ventricular tachycardia remained inducible on at least one drug in 28 patients and concordance of this effect on both of the others was 75% and on either of the others was 79%. Continued inducibility on quinidine, the drug producing the greatest electrophysiologic effects, was the best individual predictor of continued inducibility on the others. Subdivision of continued inducibility into easier to induce, inducibility unchanged, or harder to induce dramatically decreased concordance of this effect. Thus the antiarrhythmic effects of these drugs are discordant in individual patients despite electrophysiologic similarities. Nevertheless, continued inducibility after high dosages of any one of these drugs is clinically useful for screening for continued inducibility on the others and this is dose-related rather than drug specific.