Efficacy of Propafenone When Used in Combination Antiarrhythmic Therapy

Propafenone is a new antiarrhythmic agent that has been classified as a type IC agent. Combination therapy using propafenone with either procainamide or quinidine was undertaken in this study. The addition of propafenone to procainamide or quinidine in 30 patients with more than 30 VPDs per hour resulted in a mean suppression of VPD frequency of 80%; 8 of 11 patients with runs of ventricular tachycardia had greater than 90% reduction of these events during combination therapy. During combination therapy, only two patients had proarrhythmic effects. Thus, this study demonstrates that combination of propafenone with either quinidine or procainamide is effective in suppressing ventricular arrhythmias.