Effects of Intravenous Amiodarone on Rapid Ventricular Rate in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Congestive Heart Failure

Objective To evaluate the short-term effect of intravenous amiodarone on rapid ventricular rate in patients with atrial fibrillation(AF) and congestive heart failure(CHF).Methods Seventy-two patients with AF and CHF (ventricular rate ≥120 beats/ minute,NYHA classⅡ～Ⅳ) were randomized into two groups:(1) amiodarone group(n=36):the loading dosage of amiodarone 150 mg followed with 1.5 mg/min;(2) lanatoside group(n=36):the loading dosage of lanatoside 0.4 mg or 0.2 mg,more 0.2 mg should be medicated if no effect occur one hour later.The ventricular rate,the mean response time and the adverse effect were recorded after medicating.Results The ventricular rate decreased significantly after medicating than that of pre-medicating in both groups(P0.01).The extent of ventricular rate decreased was significantly larger in amiodarone group than that of the lanatoside group.The mean response time was (27.8±12.4) minutes and (47.6±13.7) minutes in amiodarone and lanatoside groups respectively(P0.01).The total effective rate on controlling rapid AF was 77.8%( amiodarone group) and 72.2% (lanatoside group) respectively(P0.05).The rate of adverse effect was 11.1% in both of groups.Conclusion It is of safety and rapid-effect for amiodarone in controllling the rapid ventricular rate in patients with AF and CHF.