Preoperative Amiodarone as Prophylaxis against Atrial Fibrillation after Heart Surgery

Background Atrial fibrillation occurs commonly after open-heart surgery and may delay hospital discharge. The purpose of this study was to assess the use of preoperative amiodarone as prophylaxis against atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. Methods In this double-blind, randomized study, 124 patients were given either oral amiodarone (64 patients) or placebo (60 patients) for a minimum of seven days before elective cardiac surgery. Therapy consisted of 600 mg of amiodarone per day for seven days, then 200 mg per day until the day of discharge from the hospital. The mean (±SD) preoperative total dose of amiodarone was 4.8±0.96 g over a period of 13 ± 7 days. Results Postoperative atrial fibrillation occurred in 16 of the 64 patients in the amiodarone group (25 percent) and 32 of the 60 patients in the placebo group (53 percent) (P = 0.003). Patients in the amiodarone group were hospitalized for significantly fewer days than were patients in the placebo group (6.5 ± 2.6 vs. 7.9 ± 4.3 days, P = 0.04). ...