EFFECT OF QUINIDINE SULPHATE IN INHIBITING VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION

Abstract

It has been quite definitely established that quinidine prolongs the refractory period of heart muscle; this has been regarded as the mechanism by which quinidine stops conditions due to circus movement of the heart such as auricular flutter and fibrillation. From clinical experience it has also been known that repeated administration of quinidine by mouth prevents the inception of these disturbances in the auricle which otherwise would be recurring in transient form.¹Because fibrillation of the ventricles is also regarded as due to a circus movement, a similar method of therapy might become available as a preventive measure. Morawitz,²on empiric grounds, successfully used the drug as a prophylactic agent in patients whom he regarded as liable to sudden cardiac death; his figures showed a distinct diminution in the number of sudden deaths under the quinidine regimen. It is the general opinion at the present time that ventricular