Acute prolongation of myocardial refractoriness by sotalol.

Sotalol, a beta adrenoceptor antagonist, was given intravenously to 15 patients with accessory atrioventricular pathways during intracardiac electrophysiological studies. Eleven patients had the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and four patients had concealed left sided accessory pathways. Four patients were restudied while receiving oral sotalol. In contrast to the actions typical of beta blocking agents, intravenous sotalol prolonged the effective refractory periods of the ventricles and accessory pathways and reduced the ventricular response to atrial fibrillation in the patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Similar results were obtained with oral administration. These findings support the observation that sotalol, unlike other beta blocking agents. causes acute prolongation of the myocardial action potential and suggest that this action might be of therapeutic use.