Farmacología cardiovascular: acceso abierto

Abstracto

Preventing Recurrences: Classic and Modern Antiarrhythmic Drugs in Atrial Fibrillation

Castro Urda Víctor, Toquero Ramos Jorge and Fernández Lozano Ignacio

Medication for atrial fibrillation (AF) with antiarrhythmic drugs (AAD) has been in use for almost 100 years and today remains an essential part of the treatment in patients with this condition.
The goals of drug treatment include reducing the number, duration and symptoms of atrial fibrillation episodes, reducing mortality and hospitalizations as well as improving the patients’ quality of life. AAD use is limited by adverse effects which include proarrhythmia, negative inotropic and non-cardiovascular toxicity. The efficacy of these drugs is limited, which means that there are other invasive options that are clearly more effective for symptomatic control of patients.