Azimilide

Excerpt

In the evolving reorientation of arrhythmia management, there has been a recent change in therapeutic practice. Accordingly, the role of sodium channel blockers has declined and the use of agents with class III effects (such as amiodarone and sotalol) and the pure class III agents (azimilide, ibutilide and dofetilide) has increased. Azimilide is the first of the class III agents that blocks both components (I_Kr and I_Ks) of the delayed rectifier potassium current. The resulting lack of rate dependency in repolarisation and cardiac muscle refractoriness is associated with a low incidence of torsades de pointes. However, the proarryhthmic potential of azimilide has not been directly compared with that of other class III agents. …