PRELIMINARY-STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF METOPROLOL AND PROPAFENONE ON VENTRICULAR ARRHYTHMIA WITH POSITIVE VENTRICULAR LATE POTENTIAL

Objective To compare the effects of metoprolol and propafenone in pati ents with ventricular arrhythmia (VA) of positive ventricular late pot ential (VLP) and to discuss the effect of medicine on high risk VA. Me thods A total of 128 patients (78 males and 50 females) with VA of pos itive VLP were randomly divided into 3 groups. Groups A and B were giv en metoprolol and propafenone respectively, group C was given vitamin C as placebo. Twenty-four hours dynamic electrocardiogram and VLP were examined before treatment and 4 weeks after treatment. Results Propaf enone could effectively control VA but could not reverse positive VLP to negative meanwhile it had proarrhythmia effect (2/40), metoprolol c ould effectively control VA (38/46) and reverse positive VLP to negati ve (39/46) with no obvious side effects. The dosage from 50 to 100 mg/ day made no difference. VA and VLP had no significant changes in group C. Conclusions Metoprolol is superior to other medicine for VA of pos itive VLP when the patients have no contraindication of beta-receptor blocking agents.