Antiarrhythmic effectiveness of propafenone compared to lorajmine in ventricular arrhythmias. Controlled clinical trial.

A randomized double-blind cross-over trial was carried out in 20 patients suffering from ventricular ectopic contractions (VECs), in order to evaluate the effectiveness of a new antiarrhythmic drug, Propafenone (P), versus Lorajmine (L). The patients were given 900 mg/day P and 600 mg/day L in three divided doses for 3 days. Every patient was evaluated with four 24-hour ambulatory ECGs, the first at the beginning of the trial, the second after the administration of the first drug, the third after the administration of the second drug and the last after wash-out. With P, the average fall in VECs was 70.6 +/- 10.8% with a clinically significant individual response in 14 of the 20 patients (VECs reduction greater than or equal to 75%, VECs mean decrease: 93.5 +/- 2.1%). With L, VECs decreased by 37.4 +/- 14.2% whilst VECs reduction was larger than 75% only in 50% patients (VECs mean decrease 85.8 +/- 3.1%). Lastly, after therapy interruption, VECs globally increased by +5.4 +/- 14.4%. Propafenone is a considerably active drug against ventricular arrhythmias. It proved to be more effective than Lorajmine under our experimental conditions.