Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)

Editor

Personal info

View

About

Terms

Javascript disabled

Please enable Javascript support in your browser to use this application.

Instructions on how to enable JavaScript on different browsers can be found here: http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=23852.

[edit this page]

Belhassen, B. et al.

Belhassen, Glick, Viskin,

Efficacy of quinidine in high-risk patients with Brugada syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy is considered the only effective treatment for high-risk patients with Brugada syndrome. Quinidine depresses I(to) current, which may play an important role in the arrhythmogenesis of this disease. METHODS AND RESULTS: The effects of quinidine bisulfate (mean dose, 1483+/-240 mg) on the prevention of inducible and spontaneous ventricular fibrillation (VF) were prospectively evaluated in 25 patients (24 men, 1 woman; age, 19 to 80 years) with Brugada syndrome. There were 15 symptomatic patients (including 7 cardiac arrest survivors and 7 patients with unexplained syncope) and 10 asymptomatic patients. All 25 patients had inducible VF at baseline electrophysiological study. Quinidine prevented VF induction in 22 of the 25 patients (88%). After a follow-up period of 6 months to 22.2 years, all patients are alive. Nineteen patients were treated with quinidine for 6 to 219 months (mean+/-SD, 56+/-67 months). None had an arrhythmic event, although 2 had non-arrhythmia-related syncope. Administration of quinidine was associated with a 36% incidence of side effects that resolved after drug discontinuation. CONCLUSIONS: Quinidine effectively prevents VF induction in patients with Brugada syndrome. Our data suggest that quinidine also suppresses spontaneous arrhythmias and could prove to be a safe alternative to automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy for a substantial proportion of patients with Brugada syndrome. Randomized studies comparing these two therapies seem warranted.[1]

References

Efficacy of quinidine in high-risk patients with Brugada syndrome. Belhassen, B., Glick, A., Viskin, S. Circulation (2004) [Pubmed]

Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenes Open Access Licence Privacy Policy Terms of Use apsburg

The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.