The Vernakalant Story: How Did It Come to Approval in Europe and What is the Delay in the U.S.A?

The sudden onset of atrial fibrillation (AF) is often associated with rapid irregular palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath and considerable anxiety. If a patient presents shortly after the onset of the arrhythmia the physician may adopt initially an expectant "wait and see" policy...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current cardiology reviews 2014-11, Vol.10 (4), p.309-314
Main Author: Camm, A John
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisoles - therapeutic use
Anti-Arrhythmia Agents - therapeutic use
Atrial Fibrillation - drug therapy
Atrial Fibrillation - physiopathology
Atrial Fibrillation - therapy
Chest Pain - etiology
Drug Approval
Dyspnea - etiology
Electric Countershock - methods
Europe
Humans
Pyrrolidines - therapeutic use
Time Factors
United States
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The sudden onset of atrial fibrillation (AF) is often associated with rapid irregular palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath and considerable anxiety. If a patient presents shortly after the onset of the arrhythmia the physician may adopt initially an expectant "wait and see" policy, perhaps with the help of mild sedation and drug therapy to reduce the ventricular rate. If the arrhythmia does not terminate spontaneously and has been present for less than 24-48 hours restoration of sinus rhythm by cardioversion should be considered. This manuscript reviews the option of electrical cardioversion versus pharmacologic and the data for, the role of, and the status of vernakalant with respect to the latter.
ISSN:1573-403X
1875-6557
DOI:10.2174/1573403X10666140513103709