Journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology
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J. Cardiovasc. Electrophysiol. · Feb 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyCatheter ablation for ventricular tachycardia in patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (CALYPSO) pilot trial.
We conducted this pilot randomized clinical trial to determine the feasibility of a large clinical trial aimed at testing whether early use of catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) is superior to antiarrhythmic medications at reducing mortality. ⋯ This clinical trial shows that most patients in clinical practice have already failed antiarrhythmic drug therapy before catheter ablation is considered, and the VT recurrence rates and death in these patients are high. For a large clinical trial to be feasible, factors limiting early consideration of catheter ablation need to be identified and addressed.
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J. Cardiovasc. Electrophysiol. · Feb 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyRate-control drugs affect variability and irregularity measures of RR intervals in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation.
Irregularity measures have been suggested as risk indicators in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF); however, it is not known to what extent they are affected by commonly used rate-control drugs. We aimed at evaluating the effect of metoprolol, carvedilol, diltiazem, and verapamil on the variability and irregularity of the ventricular response in patients with permanent AF. ⋯ Modification of AV node conduction by rate-control drugs increase RR variability, while only β-blockers affect irregularity.