[Treatment of ventricular tachycardia in infancy and childhood with amiodarone].

Ventricular tachycardia, especially in its apparently primary form, is rare in children and difficult to treat, often requiring aggressive methods of reduction or antiarrhythmic drugs unsuited for paediatric practice. Therefore, we investigated the use of amiodarone whose efficacity in the treatment of resistant ventricular tachycardia and good tolerance in children have been established. Three infants, aged from 9 to 15 months, and two children aged 6 and 7 years with apparently primary VT were selected. Etiological investigations were negative in four cases but in one of the older children a left ventricular fibroma was diagnosed and removed surgically. Amiodarone was administered orally at a dose of 500 mg/m2/24 hrs for 5 to 15 days, and then 250 mg/m2/24 hrs for one month in the surgical patient and for 9 to 39 months in the four "idiopathic" cases. Reduction of VT was obtained in all cases 8 to 48 hours after the first dose. There was only one recurrence, attributed to an over-rapid reducing in dosage; it quickly regressed after returning to the initial dosage. Stable sinus rhythm was maintained at long-term: 18 months, 2 years and 5 years after tailing off a course of 20, 40 and 1 month's treatment in 3 children. These cases are considered to be cured, but in one of these children two courses of amiodarone were required, the second for a relapse 3 months after stopping a 9 month's course of therapy. The other two children are still under treatment after 9 and 15 months with no recurrences. There were no hemodynamic, ocular or thyroid side effects. On the other hand, three cases of photosensitivity, two minor and one major requiring termination of therapy after a 20 months course, were observed. In conclusion, amiodarone would appear to be the treatment of choice for ventricular tachycardia in children, reduction of the arrhythmia being obtained in all cases even by oral administration within reasonable limits: its prophylactic value is excellent and clinical tolerance very satisfactory: a definitive cure can be hoped for an idiopathic VT providing that maintenance therapy has been sufficiently prolonged (2 years).