Drug therapy. Tocainide.

Abstract

MANY new antiarrhythmic agents have recently become available in the United States. One of these, an oral form of the lidocaine analogue tocainide (Tonocard, Merck Sharpe and Dohme), was first marketed in November 1984 for use in the suppression of symptomatic ventricular arrhythmias. It is important to recognize that although asymptomatic ventricular ectopic beats may indicate an increased susceptibility to sudden cardiac death in some patients, no currently available data suggest that therapy with antiarrhythmic drugs prevents this outcome.Lidocaine continues to be the drug of choice for the short-term management of serious ventricular arrhythmias. However, long-term oral therapy with . . .