[Medical treatment of the threat syndrome with heparin. Long-term prospective study]. / Traitement médical du syndrome de menace par l'héparine. Etude prospective au long cours.

A 19-year study of 119 patients stricken with a threat syndrome and treated with heparin is presented. The average observation period is 10.15 years. The total mortality was 33.94 per cent. The cumulative annual mortality was 1.79 per cent. The life expectancy for treated patients was identical to that of the general population in Argentina. The survivors (60.51% of the cases) were either asymptomatic (45.83%) or presented varying cardiac pathology (54.17%).

Use of flecainide acetate in the treatment of premature ventricular contractions.

Flecainide acetate, a new benzamide antiarrhythmic agent, was studied after single-dose intravenous administration to 35 male and female patients with nonlife-threatening premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). Prior Holter monitoring established that each patient had "stable" PVCs of at least 600/12 hr. PCV in 80% of the patients was attributed to underlying coronary heart disease and/or Chagas' disease. After bolus injections of flecainide acetate, cardiac rhythm was again monitored by Holter ECG recording for 24 hours. All patients had 100% suppression of PVCs, ranging from 60 to 1440 minutes in duration. The average duration of suppression for all patients was more than 8 hours (498 minutes). Follow-up at 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours showed statistically significant PVC reductions (p less than 0.01) when compared with control rates. Side effects were trivial. The extended half-life of this new agent (about 20 hours in cardiac patients) may allow a convenient twice-daily dosage schedule.