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Antiarrhythmic Drugs

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Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery and Intensive Care

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Abstract

Antiarrhythmic drugs are a daily necessity in the Cardiac Critical Care setting. Nonetheless, they are not exempt of potentially serious side effects. This chapter gives a brief description of basic electrophysiology concepts, a practical classification of antiarrhythmic agents, and a list of the most important drugs available in the Critical Care armamentarium. Information relevant to their clinical use, including indications, mechanism, pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetics, adverse effects, and dosing, is included. A solid knowledge of these concepts will be most helpful to maximize efficiency and decrease untoward effects when prescribing antiarrhythmics. More detailed discussion related to medical management of arrhythmias is provided in another chapter elsewhere in this textbook.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Critical Care Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 4401 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224, USA

    Nils Welchering

  2. Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Beneficência Portuguesa Hospital, Rua Maestro Cardim, 769, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Juliana Torres Pacheco

  3. Pediatric Critical Care Division, Cardiac Intensive Care unit, University of Pittsburgh, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 4401 Penn Ave, 4th floor, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224, USA

    Alejandro J. López-Magallón

  4. Clinical Pharmacy Specialist, Cardiac Intensive Care, Department of Pharmacy, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 4401 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224, USA

    Donald Berry

  5. Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 4401 Penn Avenue, 4th floor, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224, USA

    Ricardo Muñoz

Authors
  1. Alejandro J. López-Magallón
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  2. Nils Welchering
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  3. Juliana Torres Pacheco
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  4. Donald Berry
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  5. Ricardo Muñoz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alejandro J. López-Magallón .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Hospital Colorado, Univ. of Colorado, Denver, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    Eduardo M. Da Cruz

  2. Dept. Pediatric Cardiology, Children's Hospital Colorado, Univ. of Colorado, Denver, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    Dunbar Ivy

  3. Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Children's Hospital Colorado, Univ. of Colorado, Denver, Aurora, Colorado, USA

    James Jaggers

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López-Magallón, A.J., Welchering, N., Pacheco, J.T., Berry, D., Muñoz, R. (2014). Antiarrhythmic Drugs. In: Da Cruz, E., Ivy, D., Jaggers, J. (eds) Pediatric and Congenital Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery and Intensive Care. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4619-3_64

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4619-3_64

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-4618-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-4619-3

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