Amiodarone: treatment or cause of atrial fibrillation?

Allali, G.; Falconnet, C.

Revue Medicale Suisse 1(39): 2533-2535

2005


ISSN/ISBN: 1660-9379
PMID: 16323735
Document Number: 584813
Amiodarone has long been the anti-arrhythmic drug of choice for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. We use a clinical case report to illustrate the difficulty of treating this arrhythmia, which is frequent in older adults, by explaining the physiopathology of one of its side effects: hyperthyroidism. TSH should be measured in patients with recurrent atrial fibrillation under treatment in order to exclude an amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction. In the geriatric population, the control of ventricular rate is often preferred over a conversion in sinus rhythm because the anti-arrhythmic drugs used for conversion have serious side effects.

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