Amiodarone for the treatment of stable ventricular tachycardia – has the Resuscitation Council got it wrong?
Dear Sirs,
Amiodarone has been the UK Resuscitation Council’s recommendation for the treatment of haemodynamically stable ventricular tachycardia (VT) since 2000.1 It is my opinion that the evidence in support of amiodarone in this setting is poor and that superior agents may exist.
In the last six years, three retrospective studies have been published showing a dismal success rate when amiodarone is used to treat patients with stable VT. Marill et al reported that eight out of 28 (29%) patients cardioverted using a dose of 150 m