APPRAISAL OF EFFICACY IN TREATMENT OF VENTRICULAR PREMATURE BEATS

Analysis of ventricular ectopic activity in biological and mathematical models, and in selected clinical examples of ventricular arrhythmias, indicates that pacemaker activity may be responsible for many events previously attributed to reentry. Entrainment of a parasystolic pacemaker by the dominant SA nodal pacemaker permits major changes in the pattern and incidence of ventricular premature beats in response to drugs as a function of basic heart rate, without a direct action of the drug on the ectopic focus. © 1978.