Identification of post acute myocardial infarction patients with potential benefit from prophylactic treatment with amiodarone A substudy of EMIAT (The European Myocardial Infarct Amiodarone Trial)

Abstract

Aims To perform a retrospective analysis of subgroups of patients enrolled into the European Myocardial Infarct Amiodarone Trial (EMIAT) in order to identify patients who might benefit from prophylactic amiodarone treatment and patients in whom amiodarone might be harmful. Methods Baseline characteristics of the 1486 patients enrolled in EMIAT were used to investigate the all-cause mortality effect of amiodarone (intention-to-treat) in patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction 30–40% and Results A univariate analysis suggested that all-cause mortality is reduced on amiodarone in patients with an ejection fraction Conclusions The study might serve as a basis for future prospective trials where amiodarone could be tested in patients with a recent myocardial infarction, having a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, a high initial heart rate, and taking beta-blockers.