Clinical observation of intravenous esmolol for the treatment of rapid ventricular arrhythmia

Objectives To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of esmolol in treatment of rapid ventricular arrhythmias. Methods There were 49 patients who suffered from rapid ventricular arrhythmia during hospitalization from January 2011 to December 2012 in PLA 252 Hospital. Average age was(61.72 ±3.32) years old. These patients were divided into two groups: esmolol alone group(patients were treated with cardioversion or defibrillation+esmolol, n=26) and combination group(patients were treated with cardioversion or defibrillation+amiodarone hydrochloride+esmolol, n= 23). Results With electrical cardioversion or electrical defibrillation therapy,efficiency of esmolol alone group was 96%(25 / 26);If amiodarone was ineffective,we combined with intravenous esmolol to terminate rapid ventricular arrhythmias, thus the efficiency reached 69.5%(16 / 23). The success rate of esmolol alone group which terminated sympathetic storm was significantly higher than that of amiodarone group(P 0.05)..Recurrence of ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation afrer esmolol treatment was significantly lower,the corresponding defibrillations were less. There was no occurrence of hypotension that could not be corrected or severe slow arrhythmia. Conclusions Timely cardioversion or defibrillation with β-blocker(esmolol) can effectively control rapid ventricular arrhythmia.