• Abdulla Arslan, Öykü Gülmez Özkaya, Fatih Aytemiz, Hakan Altay, Emin Evren Özcan, Deniz Süha Küçükaksu, Vedat Bakuy, Ömer Kozan, and Seçkin Pehlivanoğlu.
• Cardiology Department, Baskent University Istanbul Medical and Research Center, Altunizade/Istanbul, Turkey.
• Medicine (Baltimore). 2024 Jul 12; 103 (28): e38839e38839.

AbstractLeft ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are widely used as end-stage therapy in patients with advanced heart failure, whereas implantation increases the risks of development of sustained ventricular tachycardia at the later postimplantation stage. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of orally administered amiodarone and propranolol in 3 patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT) after LVAD implantation who were resistant to initial anti-antiarrhythmic drugs. This retrospective cohort study consisted of the initial evaluation of the clinical data of 14 adult patients who underwent implantation of LVAD between January 2019 and March 2021. A total of 3 patients with resistant VT were finally included. In all cases, the patients were initially administered amiodarone in the different doses intravenously to stabilize the critical condition, whereas its oral form along with that of propranolol was used as maintenance therapy in the first 2 cases. In the third case, amiodarone was withdrawn because of the risk of development of hyperthyroidism, while oral propranolol was used in the treatment. The assessment in the 16-month follow-up period after discharge did not show presence of non-sustained and sustained VT in all 3 cases. In the ventricular arrhythmia-free group, the total mortality rate within the follow-up period was 11.1 ± 7.78 months in the 3 patients. We suggest that maintenance oral therapy of propranolol and amiodarone can significantly decrease the risks of complications in patients with VT after implantation of ventricular assist device in the long term.Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

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