Comparison of amiodarone plus valsartan regimen versus amiodarone alone on maintaining sinus rhythm in nonvalvular patients with persistent atrial fibrillation

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of amiodarone in combination with valsartan on maintenance of sinus rhythm in patients with nonvalvular persistent atrial fibrillation(AF).Methods: Patients with nonvalvular persistent atrial fibrillation were randomly divided into amiodarone group(A,n=32) and amiodarone plus valsartan group(AV,n=33).The selected patients transformed into sinus rhyhm was the starting time.Patients were followed up for 12 months after sinus rhythm recovery.The primary end points were first recurrence of symptomatic and asymptomatic AF.Compare sinus rhythm maintenance of the 2 groups and the left atrial diameter(LAD)at before and after 6 and 12-month of treatment.Results: Sixty-three cases have finished the experiment,including amiodarone group 31cases and amiodarone plus valsartan group 32 cases.The sinus ryhthm maintenance of group AV was significantly higher than group A(78.1% vs 51.6%,P0.05).Twelve months post therapy,the left atrial diameter(LAD) of group AV was significantly smaller than group A(P0.05).Conclusions: Combined amiodarone and valsartan use was superior to amiodarone alone for maintaining sinus rhythm in patients with nonvalvular persistent atrial fibrillation and can inhibit the enlargement of left atrium.