Atrial Fibrillation Suppression Trial (AFIST)

Double-blind, placebo-controlled US study. 220 patients > 60 years of age, all on beta-blocker therapy participants were undergoing open-heart surgery Oral amiodarone or placebo given either for 6 days beginning 1 day prior to surgery, or for 10 days beginning 5 days prior to surgery Conclusions: 1) amiodarone recipients were less likely to develop atrial fibrillation (22% vs 38%) 2) amiodarone recipients experienced fewer post-operative cerebrovascular accidents 3) amiodarone recipients experienced fewer post-operative ventricular arrhythmias 4) 30 day mortality was not different in the groups 5) other adverse effects were similar in the groups 6) no differences were found between the 6 & 10 day regimens

Related

amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone, Ritmocardyl, Rhythmarone, Ancaron) atrial fibrillation (AF) beta adrenergic receptor antagonist (beta-blocker)

References

Journal Watch 21(8):61, 2001 Giri et al, Lancet 357:830, 2001