Electrophysiologic effects of intravenous diltiazem in patients with recurrent supraventricular tachycardias.

The electrophysiologic effects of intravenous diltiazem were evaluated in 10 patients with recurrent supraventricular tachycardias. The tachycardia incorporated an accessory pathway in 7 patients and was due to AV nodal reentry in 3 patients. Diltiazem 0.25 mg/kg was administered intravenously over 5 minutes during sustained supraventricular tachycardia. Programmed electrical stimulation was used to restore sinus rhythm if diltiazem failed to terminate the arrhythmia within 10 minutes. Conduction intervals, refractory periods and tachycardia characteristics were evaluated before and immediately after drug administration. Diltiazem did not significantly modify sinus cycle length, AH and HV intervals. Atrial and ventricular effective refractory periods were similar before and after diltiazem. The effective refractory period of the AV node was prolonged by 42 msec after diltiazem (p less than 0.05). Diltiazem increased the tachycardia cycle length from 320 +/- 41 to 353 +/- 36 msec (p less than 0.01) but terminated the arrhythmia in only 2 patients. After diltiazem, supraventricular tachycardia could not be reinitiated in only 2 patients and the tachycardia initiating window was not significantly reduced (56 +/- 26 to 41 +/- 33 msec). The infusion of diltiazem was accomplished without side effects. Thus, 0.25 mg/kg of intravenous diltiazem produces a modest depression of AV nodal function and is not very effective in terminating supraventricular tachycardia or preventing its initiation in this study population. Further studies using higher doses of intravenous diltiazem would be useful to determine its maximal therapeutic benefit in patients with recurrent supraventricular tachycardias.