Risks and Benefits of Antiarrhythmic Therapy

Abstract

Drug treatment of cardiac arrhythmias is not uniformly effective and frequently causes side effects. Recently, new data have become available that more clearly delineate the risks of antiarrhythmic-drug therapy. At the same time, establishing a benefit of treatment with these drugs has proved difficult. The potential benefits of antiarrhythmic therapy -- reductions in mortality or in symptoms related to arrhythmias -- as well as the potential risks are outlined in Table 1. In this review I shall consider the available data defining these risks and benefits (which have usually been delineated in specific groups of patients using specific drugs), the risk . . .