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Updated: Aug 16, 2026
Programmed Electrical Stimulation in Mice
Published on: May 26, 2010
Efficacy of sotalol guided by programmed electrical stimulation for sustained ventricular arrhythmias secondary to
G D Young1, C R Kerr, R Mohama
1Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Insights
Sotalol effectively suppresses ventricular arrhythmias like ventricular fibrillation (VF) and ventricular tachycardia (VT) in patients, as confirmed by electrophysiologic studies. Long-term use showed sustained suppression without recurrence in successful cases.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Sotalol is a Class III antiarrhythmic and beta-blocker.
- Its long-term efficacy for ventricular arrhythmias requires further description.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the long-term efficacy of sotalol in suppressing ventricular arrhythmias.
- To assess sotalol's effectiveness in patients with inducible ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF).
Main Methods:
- 28 patients with inducible VT/VF underwent electrophysiologic study.
- Sotalol (320-640 mg/day) was administered, followed by repeat programmed stimulation.
- Arrhythmia suppression was assessed after a minimum of 72 hours on the final dose.
Main Results:
- Sotalol suppressed arrhythmias in 15 of 28 patients (54%).
- Suppression was significantly higher for VF (89%) than VT (37%, p < 0.01).
- Higher success rates were observed in patients without myocardial infarction history (88% vs 40%).
Conclusions:
- Sotalol is effective for suppressing ventricular arrhythmias, particularly VF, as determined by programmed electrical stimulation.
- Long-term follow-up (10.3 months) demonstrated sustained arrhythmia suppression in patients who responded to sotalol.
- Sotalol shows promise for managing specific patient groups with inducible ventricular arrhythmias.
Abstract:
Sotalol is a class III antiarrhythmic drug with additional beta-blocker activity that has been shown to be effective in supraventricular and ventricular arrhythmias. Its long-term efficacy for ventricular arrhythmias is not as well described. Patients with documented sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) who had their clinical arrhythmia inducible at baseline electrophysiologic study received sotalol 320 to 640 mg/day. Repeat programmed stimulation was performed after a minimum of 72 hours while receiving the final dose. Of 28 patients (25 men and 3 women) whose arrhythmias were inducible at baseline, 15 had their arrhythmias suppressed with sotalol. Sotalol had greater success in suppressing arrhythmias in those with VF (8 of 9, 89%) than in those with VT (7 of 19, 37%, p < 0.01). In patients with a history of coronary artery disease but no history of myocardial infarction the arrhythmia was suppressed in 7 of 8 (88%) compared with 8 of 20 (40%, p < 0.05) patients with a history of myocardial infarction. All 15 patients in whom ventricular arrhythmias were suppressed continued to take long-term sotalol, and at a follow-up of 10.3 +/- 6.4 months none has had arrhythmia recurrence. Thus, sotalol is an effective drug for the suppression of ventricular arrhythmias as judged by programmed electrical stimulation. It appears to be more effective in patients in whom the clinical arrhythmia is VF rather than VT.
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