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β-Adrenergic blocking drugs as antifibrillatory agents

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Abstract

β-Adrenergic blockade is associated with a significant reduction in mortality in most patients with structural heart disease. Clinical trial data involving patients after myocardial infarction or with congestive heart failure demonstrate that a reduction in sudden death accounts for much of the observed mortality reduction. β-adrenergic blockade inhibits the proarrhythmic effects of both neural and humoral sympathetic stimulation and inhibits the vagal withdrawal that accompanies ischemia. Although it does not have a dramatic effect on spontaneous ectopy or inducible monomorphic ventricular tachycardia, experimental and clinical data suggest that it inhibits the development of ventricular fibrillation by several mechanisms.

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  1. Division of Cardiology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 East 9th Avenue, Box B-130, 80262, Denver, CO, USA

    Michael J. Reiter MD, PhD

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Reiter, M.J. β-Adrenergic blocking drugs as antifibrillatory agents. Curr Cardiol Rep 4, 426–433 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-002-0043-3

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