The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 41, 106-112, Copyright © 1986 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Antiarrhythmic drugs: electrophysiological basis of their clinical usage
JT Weng, DE Smith and PV Moulder
Cardiac arrhythmias arise from abnormalities of impulse initiation or
impulse conduction or both. A review of the electrophysiological mechanisms
of the genesis of cardiac arrhythmias and of the electrophysiological
principles of the treatment of the cardiac arrhythmias leads to:
categorization of antiarrhythmic drugs into five classes based on their
dominant cardiac electrophysiological actions; a series of categories of
their effects on impulse initiation and impulse conduction in different
types of cardiac cells; and a systematic approach to pharmacological
management of cardiac arrhythmias.