ORAL PROPAFENONE AS TREATMENT FOR INCESSANT SUPRAVENTRICULAR AND VENTRICULAR-TACHYCARDIA IN CHILDREN

Incessant tachycardia, which can result in tachycardiainduced cardiomyopathy, is difficult to treat with conventional drugs. Better results are obtained with class Ic antiarrhythmic agents, but they may elicit proarrhythmias. 1,2 Propafenone appears to be less proarrhythmic. 3 In children with a normal heart, as well as with structural heart disease, oral propafenone has been used in different types of tachyarrhythmias including ventricular ectopy and paroxysmal tachycardia.4-9 In incessant tachycardia, however, the experience with oral propafenone is limited. Therefore, we studied the efficacy and side effects of oral propafenone in children with incessant supraventricular and ventricular tachycardia. © 1993.