Why the study?
Does diazepam alter heart rate or rhythm in patients with cardiac arrhythmias or affect ventricular tachycardia thresholds in experimental models?
Does diazepam alter heart rate or rhythm in patients with cardiac arrhythmias or affect ventricular tachycardia thresholds in experimental models?
Diazepam showed limited efficacy in converting clinical arrhythmias but demonstrated potential anti-arrhythmic properties in an experimental dog model, prompting calls for controlled clinical trials.
Diazepam appears ineffective for most atrial arrhythmias in this series; leaves open potential antiarrhythmic effects in ventricular tachycardia for controlled trials.
Diazepam did not alter the rate or rhythm in III patients with atrial fibrillation. In 3 out of 38 patients with atrial flutter the use of diazepam was followed by an increase in atrioventricular block. Diazepam restored sinus rhythm in I patient with atrial tachycardia (total 7 patients) and in I patient with ventricular tachycardia (total 8 patients). Experimentally in the dog diazepam raised the electrically-induced ventricular tachycardia threshold significantly. Pretreatment with diazepam did not alter significantly the dose of strophanthidin K required to induce ventricular tachycardia in the dog. The value of diazepam as a cardiac anti-arrhythmic agent should be further assessed in a controlled clinical trial, especially in patients with acute myocardial infarction.
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Spracklen et al. (1970) studied this question.