Pre- and in-hospital antiarrhythmic prevention of ventricular fibrillation complicating acute myocardial infarction.

Prehospital prevention of primary ventricular fibrillation using 300 mg lidocaine intramuscularly seems to be ineffective in view of the rather low plasma lidocaine levels obtained with this regimen. Preliminary results of 400 mg lidocaine administered by paramedics using an automatic injector are encouraging. In-hospital prevention of primary ventricular fibrillation can be achieved by routine administration of intravenous lidocaine in rather high dosages provided that adequate measures are taken. When, however, recurrent attacks of primary ventricular fibrillation supervene, repeated defibrillation seems to be preferable rather than continuous institution of various antiarrhythmic drugs.