Antiarrhythmic Medications for Acute Management of Ventricular Arrhythmias.

Antiarrhythmic medications play a crucial role in the acute management of ventricular arrhythmias. Determining the most appropriate, effective, and safe antiarrhythmic medication to use in each clinical scenario requires careful consideration of the underlying disease, rhythm, and clinical presentation. Important initial distinctions to be made in the acute management of ventricular tachycardia (VT) are whether structural heart disease is present and if the patient has decompensated heart failure and borderline cardiac output, which makes the use of first-line agent beta blockers hazardous. In those with borderline or low cardiac output intravenous amiodarone is the favored agent for suppression of VT.