|
| Drug | Study (ref. no.) | Study type | Number of patients | Results | Study strength/weakness |
|
|
Digoxin (see also studies [69, 70]) | Ritchie et al. 1990 [66] | Unblinded
PRCT | Digoxin,
Control, | Incidence of arrhythmia
Digoxin 29/64 (45%)
Control 24/66 (36%)
NS
One death due to arrest in Digoxin group | Only 56.1% of patients underwent lung resection
No Holter monitoring
No sample size calculation |
|
Ritchie et al. 1992 [67] | Unblinded
PRCT | Digoxin,
Control, | Incidence of arrhythmia
Digoxin 29/58 (50%)
Control 19/53 (36%)
NS | No Holter monitoring |
One death due to arrest
in Digoxin group |
|
|
Flecainide | Borgeat et al. 1989 [71] | PRCT | Flecainide,
Placebo, | Outcome defined as
need to start or increase
antiarrhythmic drug
Flecainide 0/14
Placebo 6/16 (38%)
significant | Holter monitoring
small study |
| Borgeat et al. 1991 [69] | PRCT | Flecainide,
Digoxin, | SVT or complex ventricular arrhythmia
Flecainide 1/15 (7%)
Digoxin 7/15 (47%)
significant | Holter monitoring,
small study
No placebo arm |
|
| Verapamil (see also study [74]) |
van Mieghem et al., 1996 [73] | Unblinded
PRCT | Verapamil,
Control, | Incidence of AF
Verapamil 8/100 (8%)
Control 15/99 (15%)
NS | No Holter monitoring |
23% bradycardia or
hypotension in Verapamil group |
|
| Diliazem |
Amar et al. 1997 [70] | Unblinded
PRCT | Diltiazem,
Digoxin, | Incidence of AF
Diltiazem 5/35 (14%)
Digoxin 11/35 (31%)
NS | Low Diltiazem dose,
No placebo arm |
Hypotension = 2 pts in Diltiazem group
2nd degree heart block = 1 in
Digoxin group |
|
Amar et al. 2000 [18] | Double-blinded
PRCT | Diltiazem,
Control, | Incidence of AF
Diltiazem 25/167 (14%)
Control 40/163 (26%)
significant | Good study design, Holter monitoring,
sample size calculation,
comparable surgical interventions,
power analysis |
3.59% in Diltiazem group
developed hypotension
(0.61% in control) |
|
| Amiodarone |
van Mieghem et al. 1994 [74] |
Retrospective review of prospectively collected data |
Amiodarone,
No Amiodarone, | Incidence of AF
Amiodarone 1/32 (3.1%)
Verapamil 0/32 (0.0%)
Control 7/32 (21.8%)
(RCT report) |
Study stopped early due to complications
High dose of Amiodarone
No Holter monitoring |
3/32 pts developed ARDS
and 2/32 died in Amiodarone group (RCT report) |
6/55 (11%) in Amiodarone
group versus 9/497 (1.8%) in control developed ARDS
(cohort report) |
| Lanza et al. 2003 [75] | Retrospective cohort study | Amiodarone,
control, | Incidence of AF
Amiodarone 3/31 (9.7%)
Control 17/52 (33%)
Significant | No randomization
No Holter monitoring
Incidence of AF from records
Low dose of Amiodarone |
|
Tisdale et al. 2009 [76] | PRCT | Amiodarone,
control, | Incidence of AF
Amiodarone 9/65 (13.8%)
Control 21/65 (32.3%)
Significant | No Holter monitoring |
Shorter ICU stay for Amiodarone group pts
No difference in complications |
| Riber et al. 2012 [77] | Double-blinded-
PRCT | Amiodarone,
Control, | Incidence of AF
Amiodarone 11/122 (9%)
Control 38/120 (31.6%)
significant
No side effects traced
to the prophylactic regime
| Electrocardiogram or Holter monitoring,
power analysis,
intention to treat analysis |
|
| Magnesium | Terzi et al. 1996 [82] | Unblinded
PRCT | Magnesium,
Control, | Incidence of atrial
tachyarrhythmia
Magnesium 10/93 (11%)
control 27/101 (27%)
Significant | No Holter monitoring
No power analysis
Patients in control group received Digoxin |
|
