Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
 72,216 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the haemodynamic and antiarrhythmic effects of flecainide acetate in patients with heart failure. Flecainide acetate, a class Ic antiarrhythmic agent, was given intravenously to 9 patients with congestive heart failure and frequent ventricular arrhythmias with nonsustained ventricular tachycardia. The drug (2 mg/kg) was infused slowly over 60 minutes. The maximum plasma level achieved was 218 (range 142-350) ng/ml. Six of the 9 patients experienced a 90% suppression of their arrhythmias for an average of 6.5 (range 2-15) hours. Pre-ejection period control (PEPc, 148.8 +/- 3.6 msec) increased to 157 msec and pre-ejection period/ejection time (PEP/ET) [control 0.449 +/- 0.027] to 0.516 (p less than 0.005), while the ejection time index (ETI) did not change. Cardiac index (control 2.4 +/- 0.36 L/min/m2) decreased by 11% (p less than 0.02), and pulmonary wedge pressure (control 13.4 +/- 2.4mm Hg) increased by 23% (p less than 0.05). Stroke work index, arterial pressure and vascular resistance did not change significantly. The parameters returned to control values on completion of the infusion. Flecainide acetate can be safely administered at the usual dose of 2 mg/kg to patients with congestive heart failure, provided that the infusion time is doubled. Antiarrhythmic efficacy under these conditions is good even at lower plasma concentrations.
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PMID:Haemodynamic and antiarrhythmic effects of intravenous flecainide acetate in chronic congestive heart failure. 400 80

Flecainide acetate has been shown to be a potent antiarrhythmic agent which is active for more than 8 h, whether given intravenously or orally. However, the negative inotropic effect demonstrated in animal studies could hamper the potential clinical utility of the drug. Ten patients with coronary artery disease but without cardiac failure were given intravenous flecainide (2 mg/kg). Stroke index (SI), left ventricular systolic pressure (LVP), end diastolic pressure (EDP) and LV contractility indices (max dP/dt, VCE 40 mm Hg, peak VCE, Vmax from total pressure (TP] were measured immediately before and 10 min after flecainide, under resting conditions and during atrial pacing with heart rates up to 133 +/- 4.2 beats/min (mean +/- s.e. mean). It is demonstrated that flecainide has a negative inotropic effect, not only under resting conditions, but also less apparently during pacing-induced tachycardia. The effect appears to be dose-related and may result in a reduction of cardiac performance.
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PMID:The haemodynamic effect of intravenous flecainide acetate in patients with coronary artery disease. 688 22