Medical treatment of cardiac arrhythmias in Chagas'heart disease

• Main Authors: Angelo Amato V. de Paola, Fernando Antonio Aquino Gondin, Vanderlei Hara, Alayde Mendonça
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Associação Paulista de Medicina
• Series: São Paulo Medical Journal
• Subjects: Chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy; Cardiac arrhythmia; Antiarrhythmic drugs
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-31801995000200018&lng=en&tlng=en

There are no controlled clinical trials evaluating drug therapy in patients with ventricular arrhythmias and chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy. Empirical treatment with disopyramide (400-1,000mg/d), phenytoin (4-6mg/d), mexiletine (600-1,200mg/d), propafenone (900mg/d), amiodarone ( loading: 1,000mg/d, 10-14 days; maintenance 200-600mg/d), and sotalol (320mg/d) had efficacy and tolerance ranging from 18% to 90% with heterogeneous criteria for efficacy definition. Further studies with homogenous criteria are required to determine which is the most appropriate drug therapy for patients with chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy and ventricular arrhythmias.