CLINICAL STUDY
Life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias due to transient or correctable causes: high risk for death in follow-up
D. George Wyse, MD, PhD, FACC*,*,
Peter L. Friedman, MD, FACC ,
Michael A. Brodsky, MD, FACC ,
Karen J. Beckman, MD, FACC ,
Mark D. Carlson, MD, FACC||,
Anne B. Curtis, MD, FACC¶,
Alfred P. Hallstrom, PhD#,
Merritt H. Raitt, MD, FACC**,
Bruce L. Wilkoff, MD, FACC,
H. Leon Greene, MD, FACC# for the AVID Investigators
* Cardiology Division, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Cardiology Division, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, California, USA
Cardiovascular Section, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
|| Cardiology Division, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
¶ Cardiovascular Division, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
# Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
** Division of Cardiology, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon, USA
Cardiology Division, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Manuscript received February 7, 2001;
revised manuscript received May 29, 2001,
accepted August 8, 2001.
* Correspondence: Dr. D. George Wyse, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive, Northwest, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4N1 Canada. Reprint requests: AVID Clinical Trial Center, 1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 505, Seattle, Washington 98105 USA
dgwyse{at}ucalgary.ca
OBJECTIVES
This study evaluated the prognosis of patients resuscitated from ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) with a transient or correctable cause suspected as the cause of the VT/VF.
BACKGROUND
Patients resuscitated from VT/VF in whom a transient or correctable cause has been identified are thought to be at low risk for recurrence and often receive no primary treatment for their arrhythmias.
METHODS
In the Antiarrhythmics Versus Implantable Defibrillators (AVID) trial, patients with a potentially transient or correctable cause of VT/VF were not eligible for randomization. The mortality of these patients was compared with the mortality of patients with a known high risk of recurrence of VT/VF in the AVID registry.
RESULTS
Compared with patients having high risk VT/VF, those with a transient or correctable cause for their presenting VT/VF were younger and had a higher left ventricular ejection fraction. These patients were more often treated with revascularization as the primary therapy, more commonly received a beta-blocker, less often required therapy for congestive heart failure and less commonly received either an antiarrhythmic drug or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. Nevertheless, subsequent mortality of patients with a transient or correctable cause of VT/VF was no different or perhaps even worse than that of the primary VT/VF population.
CONCLUSIONS
Patients identified with a transient or correctable cause for their VT/VF remain at high risk for death. Further research is needed to define truly reversible causes of VT/VF. Meanwhile, these patients may require more aggressive evaluation, treatment and follow-up than is currently practiced.
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
| | AVID | = Antiarrhythmics Versus Implantable Defibrillators trial | | CAD | = coronary artery disease | | CHF | = congestive heart failure | | MI | = myocardial infarction | | NDIS | = National Death Index Service | | VF | = ventricular fibrillation | | VT | = ventricular tachycardia |
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