Observations on the safety and effectiveness of dofetilide in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and normal left ventricular function.

Dofetilide is currently recommended as second-tier therapy to maintain sinus rhythm in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) and normal left ventricular function, yet limited data support this recommendation. We examined the safety and efficacy of dofetilide in this setting through a retrospective chart review. We evaluated patients who had symptomatic PAF, normal left ventricular function, and no significant valvular disease.

Ventricular tachycardia induced by biventricular pacing in patient with severe ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Introduction: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a new alternative which affords symptomatic improvement in two-thirds of patients who exhibit medically refractory congestive heart failure (CHF) as well as significant prolongation of the QRS duration (>135 msec). As more experience with CRT accrues, unexpected complications of this promising therapy may become apparent. Herein, we describe a patient with severe ischemic cardiomyopathy and refractory CHF who developed incessant ventricular tachycardia (VT) after the initiation of biventricular pacing.

Risk of proarrhythmic events in the Atrial Fibrillation Follow-up Investigation of Rhythm Management (AFFIRM) study: a multivariate analysis.

Objectives: This study examined the risk of proarrhythmic events in patients receiving antiarrhythmic drugs for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) according to present-day safety guidelines.

Background: Advances in understanding the proarrhythmic risk of antiarrhythmic drugs has led to development of safety guidelines for these agents. Such guidelines were used in the Atrial Fibrillation Follow-up Investigation of Rhythm Management (AFFIRM) study.

A new agent, blue and radioactive, for sentinel node detection.

Background: Although with some disadvantages, combining radiotracer and isosulfan blue facilitates the detection of sentinel lymph nodes. This study was designed to evaluate the use of (99m)Tc-labeled phthalocyanine tetrasulfonate ((99m)Tc-PCTS) as a single agent for simultaneous blue staining and radiotracer localization of the sentinel lymph node.

Methods: Twelve rabbits were injected into the dermis and subcutaneously in the distal hind limb with 1 mL of blue (99m)Tc-PCTS (.