PMID- 2806289
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 19891127
LR  - 20190510
IS  - 0195-668X (Print)
IS  - 0195-668X (Linking)
VI  - 10 Suppl C
DP  - 1989 Aug
TI  - Electrophysiological alterations in heart failure.
PG  - 9-12
AB  - Electrophysiological defects are common and diverse features of heart failure. 
      Cardiac arrhythmias may be precipitated by mechanical factors, catecholamine 
      release, ischaemia drug therapy or drug-induced hypokalaemia. There is a high 
      prevalence of ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias, and chronic atrial 
      fibrillation is also common. Ventricular arrhythmias are characterized by 
      multiform, bigeminal and paired beats. There is also a high incidence of 
      non-sustained ventricular tachycardia. These abnormalities are particularly 
      prevalent amongst patients in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class 
      IV. Although the presence of complex ventricular arrhythmias and non-sustained 
      ventricular tachycardia are regarded as prognostic markers, their role in the 
      initiation of sudden death has yet to be proven. The results of a recent 
      placebo-controlled clinical trial have indicated that combined therapy with 
      isosorbide dinitrate and hydralazine can reduce mortality due to sudden death or 
      pump failure, and is superior in this respect to prazosin. In another key study, 
      enalapril was superior to placebo at lowering mortality caused by pump failure, 
      but did not reduce the incidence of sudden death. These findings point to new 
      directions of investigation which might clarify the importance of arrhythmias in 
      heart failure, and reveal improved ways of controlling cardiac rhythm and 
      improving prognosis.
FAU - Storstein, L
AU  - Storstein L
AD  - Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Ullevaal Hospital, University 
      of Oslo, Norway.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - England
TA  - Eur Heart J
JT  - European heart journal
JID - 8006263
SB  - IM
MH  - Arrhythmias, Cardiac/drug therapy/*etiology
MH  - Heart Conduction System/*physiopathology
MH  - Heart Failure/*complications/drug therapy
MH  - Humans
EDAT- 1989/08/01 00:00
MHDA- 1989/08/01 00:01
CRDT- 1989/08/01 00:00
PHST- 1989/08/01 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 1989/08/01 00:01 [medline]
PHST- 1989/08/01 00:00 [entrez]
AID - 10.1093/eurheartj/10.suppl_c.9 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Eur Heart J. 1989 Aug;10 Suppl C:9-12. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/10.suppl_c.9.