The Action of Procaine Amide in Cardiac Arrhythmias

It has been demonstrated that procaine applied locally to the heart reduces cardiac irritability as indicated by the added intensity of stimulation necessary to induce extrasystoles or ventricular fibrillation.1It has also been shown that after procaine administration a larger dose of epinephrine is required to produce ventricular fibrillation during chloroform anesthesia.2Since the administration of procaine in man may be followed by untoward reactions, Burstein and others3studied the effect of less toxic substances chemically related to procaine. They found that several related compounds protected dogs from epinephrine-cyclopropane ventricular fibrillation. Brodie, Lief and Poet4demonstrated that procaine administered intravenously in man is hydrolyzed rapidly to paraaminobenzoic acid and diethylaminoethanol. Because of the high concentration and relative persistence of diethylaminoethanol in the plasma, Rosenberg and others5studied the effect of this compound on cardiac arrhythmias. The drug prevented the development of ventricular ectopic beats in