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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
atrial fibrillation
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests
atrial fibrillation
by Chuck, Aug 25, 1999 12:00AM
I am a 40 year old man who has been treated for afib, cardiomyopathy and chf for 1.5 years. Most recently I have been in afib since early June. This week I underwent a cardioversion that was unsuccessful (6 attempts). They increased my amiodirone to 800 mg. per day and will attempt another cardioversion in 2 weeks. If that fails they want to do an immediate ablation of the AV node. I am hesitant to allow the ablation since it is permanent. I already have a pacemaker in place. Is there any other treatments available? Also, I have heard that there might be a new drug coming out to control heart rhythms. Does anybody know the name of this drug and when it might become available? My thanks to any help anybody can give me.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF CARDIO MD - CRC, Aug 25, 1999 12:00AM
The drug is called dofetalide an should be on the market in the next several months. It is a class III antiarrhythmic similar to amiodarone. Ablation of the AV node with pacemaker placement is usually reserved for cases where the heart rate cannot be controlled with medication and is only a last resort.
