Effects of milrinone on complex ventricular arrhythmias in congestive heart failure secondary to ischemic or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy
Ludmer, P.L.; Baim, D.S.; Antman, E.M.; Gauthier, D.F.; Rocco, M.B.; Friedman, P.L.; Colucci, W.S.
American Journal of Cardiology 59(15): 1351-1355
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9149 PMID: 3591690 DOI: 10.1016/0002-9149(87)90918-0
Accession: 005314507
To determine whether oral milrinone therapy has an effect on complex ventricular arrhythmias in patients with severe congestive heart failure and, if so, whether a change in the severity of complex ventricular arrhythmias after 1 week of milrinone therapy is associated with a change in the mode or frequency or cardiac mortality, a retrospective analysis was performed to determine the frequency of ventricular tachycardia and the density of ventricular couplets on 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic recordings performed before and 1 week after initiation of oral milrinone therapy in 74 consecutive patients with New York Heart Association functional class III or IV congestive heart failure. The endpoints of mortality and mode of death were assessed during a mean follow-up of 6 months. In 91% of the patients, 1 week of oral milrinone therapy was associated with no significant change (85%) or a significant decrease (6%) in the density of ventricular couplets and frequency of complex ventricular arrhythmias increased spectrometry patients the frequency of complex ventricular arrhythmias increased significantly at the end of 1 week of oral milrinone therapy. In this subgroup, neither total cardiac mortality nor the incidence of sudden cardiac death was significantly higher than that in patients with no change or a decrease in complex ventricular ectopic activity.