Chronic tocainide therapy for refractory high-grade ventricular arrhythmias

Efficacy and tolerance of tocainide during long-term treatment of malignant ventricular arrhythmias

A group of 51 patients with malignant ventricular arrhythmias refractory to standard oral antiarrhythmic agents were treated with oral tocainide. Antiarrhythmic efficacy was defined as total abolition of occurrences of ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) as assessed by hospital admissions for arrhythmias and the occurrence of sudden cardiac death (SCD). Of the 51 patients, 32 (63%) initially tolerated tocainide and were discharged from the hospital. Of the 19 patients not initially responding to tocainide, 6 (12%) had arrhythmia recurrence and 13 (25%) developed intolerable central nervous system or gastrointestinal side effects. Of these 19 short-term nonresponders, 8 (42%) patients suffered SCD over an average follow-up of 24 months (annual SCD rate of 21%). Two patients suffered SCD during the first week of tocainide therapy. Discounting the 2 patients with SCD on tocainide therapy, 6 of 17 (35%) patients initially withdrawn from tocainide suffered SCD (annual SCD rate of 18%). Twenty-four of the 32 short-term responders did not have arrhythmia recurrence over a mean follow-up of 38 months resulting in an overall long-term efficacy of 47% (24/51). Over an average follow-up of 38 months for these 24 short-term responders, 12 patients expired from nonarrhythmic causes, 3 patients were withdrawn for non-drug-related causes, and 9 patients remain on tocainide therapy. Of the 8 long-term nonresponders, 3 patients had arrhythmia recurrence and died suddenly while 5 patients developed intolerable side effects. The annual SCD rate in short-term responders was 3%. Eighteen of the 51 patients (35%) were withdrawn from the study because of adverse effects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Pharmacokinetics of tocainide in patients with severe renal failure

The plasma levels of tocainide have been followed after oral administration of 600 mg p.o. to 20 patients with renal failure due to various causes, and to 8 healthy controls. The peak plasma concentrations in the patients with pyelonephritis (3.80 micrograms/ml) and interstitial nephritis (3.74 micrograms/ml) but not in those with glomerulonephritis (3.17 micrograms/ml) differed from that in healthy volunteers (3.24 micrograms/ml). The renal clearance of tocainide was well correlated with the endogenous creatinine clearance and was dependent on urine pH. No difference in renal clearance was observed between the patients groups. It is suggested that the changes in plasma levels are a consequence of decreased renal clearance. Creatinine clearance was shown to be a poor estimator of tocainide clearance, which suggests that extrarenal clearance plays an important role in the handling of the drug in the body. The findings are used to suggest a safe dosage regimen.

New directions in antiarrhythmic drug therapy

Cardiac arrhythmia causing sudden cardiac death is a serious worldwide public health problem. Antiarrhythmic agents have been available for therapy, but the conventional agents cause a high degree of intolerable side effects. The recent development of many new experimental antiarrhythmic agents has increased our capacity to effectively treat cardiac arrhythmias. Using a multifaceted approach of programmed electrical stimulation studies, drug level determinations, exercise testing and 24-hour ambulatory Holter monitoring, it can reasonably be decided which patient needs therapy and if therapy is going to be effective. Both aspects of the sudden death equation, ectopy frequency (triggering mechanism) and the ability to propagate sustained ventricular tachycardia (substrate), may be examined. Careful follow-up is needed to determine continued drug efficacy and the presence of side effects that may compromise patient compliance with therapy. If side effects intervene that may cause continued therapy to be intolerable, changing the antiarrhythmic agent, as opposed to decreasing the dosage to an ineffective range, may be appropriate. A comprehensive approach to arrhythmia management may begin to reduce the high incidence of sudden death due to fatal arrhythmias.

Chemistry, pharmacology, antiarrhythmic efficacy and adverse effects of tocainide hydrochloride, an orally active structural analog of lidocaine

Tocainide is an orally effective antiarrhythmic agent, structurally and pharmacologically similar to lidocaine. It appears to be free of marked negative hemodynamic or electrophysiologic effects in patients with heart disease, despite a high frequency of minor and often transient central nervous system and gastrointestinal side effects. Tocainide is effective in suppressing ventricular arrhythmias in a variety of settings. This agent may be a useful addition to our antiarrhythmic armamentarium.