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Reentry in Clinical Arrhythmias: Mechanisms Responsible for Antiarrhythmic Drug Efficacy

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Antiarrhythmic Drugs

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Abstract

Despite substantial gains in our understanding of the electrophysiologic effects of antiarrhythmic drugs, the mechanism(s) responsible for their clinical efficacy remains elusive. The purpose of this discussion is to examine what is known about the mechanism of antiarrhythmic drug action in the treatment of clinical reentrant arrhythmias. Ventricular tachycardia in the setting of healed myocardial infarction will serve as the focus for the discussion as: (a) the reentrant mechanism of this arrhythmia is well established [1, 2], and (b) the effect of antiarrhythmic drugs on the individual components of the circuit is more difficult to determine than in macroreentrant arrhythmias such as AV reentry or AV nodal reentry. In this sense, the determination of antiarrhythmic mechanisms for VT is more difficult, but also more fundamental, than for macroreentrant rhythms because the vulnerable parameter [3] is not as evident.

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Authors
  1. D. J. Callans
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  2. M. E. Josephson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, Innere Medizin C, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Straße 33, D-48129, Münster, Germany

    Günter Breithardt , Wilhelm Haverkamp  & Gerhard Hindricks ,  & 

  2. Dept. of Cardiological Sciences, St. George’s Hospital Medical School Cranmer Terrace, SW17 ORE, London, UK

    A. John Camm

  3. Department of Medicine, O’Connor Hospital, 2100 Forest Avenue, Suite 110, 95128, San Jose, CA, USA

    Mohammad Shenasa

  4. Department of Cardiology and Angiology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Straße 33, D-48129, Münster, Germany

    Martin Borggrefe

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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Callans, D.J., Josephson, M.E. (1995). Reentry in Clinical Arrhythmias: Mechanisms Responsible for Antiarrhythmic Drug Efficacy. In: Breithardt, G., Borggrefe, M., Camm, A.J., Shenasa, M., Haverkamp, W., Hindricks, G. (eds) Antiarrhythmic Drugs. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-85624-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-85624-2_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-85626-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-85624-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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