A consensus report on antiarrhythmic drug use.

During the past few years, a number of new antiarrhythmic agents have become available for use in the United States, encainide has been withdrawn from use, and others have had indications for use modified. Therefore, a meeting of arrhythmia specialists was convened in an attempt to develop guidelines for antiarrhythmic therapy. The resultant discussions and guidelines presented in this article address general issues such as the most important antiarrhythmic drug attributes, as well as therapy for particular arrhythmias such as premature ventricular contractions, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, ventricular ectopy, and supraventricular tachyarrhythmias.