Continuous Versus Episodic Amiodarone Treatment for the Prevention of Permanent Atrial Fibrillation
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2007-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Our hypothesis is that episodic amiodarone treatment (i.e. amiodarone treatment 1 month prior
until 1 month after cardioversion) is associated with a lower morbidity and a higher quality
of life compared to continuous prophylactic amiodarone treatment while atrial fibrillation is
still effectively suppressed. The latter means that at the end of the study permanent atrial
fibrillation is prevented in comparable percentage of patients (70%) in both treatment
strategies. However, this will be accomplished at the cost of a higher number of electrical
cardioversions (2-3) in the episodic treatment group compared to the continuous treatment
group.