Use of intravenous sotalol in newborns with supraventricular tachycardia

Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) in the newborn population is a common arrhythmia that can at times be difficult to treat, with long-standing persistent SVT resulting in tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy. Certain arrhythmic substrates, like ectopic atrial tachycardia (EAT), can be refractory to commonly used antiarrhythmics and may not be responsive to cardioversion. It is therefore important to identify a host of drugs that can quickly terminate arrhythmias.1–5 Class III antiarrhythmics are often used in infants with SVT that is unresponsive to typical first-line agents such as beta blockers or sodium channel blockers, though oral preparations are suboptimal given the pharmacokinetics.