Role of amiodarone on the systemic inflammatory response induced by cardiac surgery: proinflammatory actions.

Purpose: Amiodarone (AMIO), a widely used anti-arrhythmic drug, has been shown to reduce the incidence of atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery and also to exert immunomodulatory actions in vitro and proinflammatory effects in vivo. The present study investigated the immunomodulatory properties of AMIO in the inflammatory response induced by cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

Methods: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 20 patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass graft were randomized to receive placebo or AMIO 600 mg day(-1) orally for seven days before surgery and 45 mg hr(-1) intravenously for 48 hr postoperatively.

Circadian variation in ventricular tachycardia and atrial fibrillation in a medical-cardiological ICU.

Objective: To assess the diurnal distribution of ventricular tachycardia (VT) and atrial fibrillation (AF) in critically ill patients.

Design And Setting: Prospective observational study (episode-based design) in an eight-bed medical/cardiological ICU at a university hospital that also admits postoperative patients.

Patients: 98 consecutive patients with AF ( n=55) or ventricular tachycardia ( n=43).