Suppression of ischemic related ventricular tachycardia by verapamil during treadmill exercise testing

A 35-year-old man with class 2 angina pectoris was enlisted in a serial exercise test protocol to evaluate oral verapamil therapy for angina pectoris. During both the single-blind open dose titration phase and the double-blind phase, short salvoes of ventricular tachycardia (VT) were followed by angina and ischemic ST segment depression during exercise with placebo. With verapamil therapy, no ventricular ectopy was noted during exercise, and the patient exercised longer before angina or ischemic ECG changes developed. Twenty-four hour ECG monitoring revealed multiform ventricular premature depolarizations and three-beat salvoes of VT with placebo and no ventricular ectopy whatsoever with verapamil. Verapamil's antiarrhythmic effect may be secondary to its anti-ischemic action, or, by inhibiting slow channel conduction (with its propensity for enhanced automaticity and reentry) induced by ischemia and the sympathetic response to exercise, exerts a primary antiarrhythmic action.