Amiodarone prophylaxis for atrial fibrillation of high-risk patients after coronary bypass grafting:: a prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized study

Aims Atrial fibrillation (AF) occurs often in patients after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and can result in increased morbidity and mortality. Previous studies using P-wave signal-averaged electrocardiogram (P-SAECG) have shown that patients with a longer filtered P-wave duration (FPD) have a high risk of AF after CABG. We have shown that patients with an FPD >= 124 ms and a root-mean-square voltage of the last 20 ms of the P-wave 20 <= 3.7 mu V have an increased risk of AF after surgery. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate whether or not prophylactic peri-operative administration of amiodarone could reduce the incidence of AF in this high-risk group undergoing CABG identified by P-SAECG. Methods and results In this prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized study, 110 patients received either amiodarone (n=55) or placebo (n=55). During CABG, two patients of both groups died. Amiodarone was given as 600 mg oral single dose one day before and from days 2 through 7 after surgery. In addition, amiodarone was also administered intravenously during surgery in a 300-mg bolus for 1 h and as a total maintenance dose of 20 mg/kg weight over 24 h on the first day following surgery. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of AF after CABG. The secondary endpoint was the hospitalization length of stay after CABG. The baseline characteristics were similar in both treatment groups. The incidence of post-operative AF was significantly higher in the placebo group compared with the amiodarone group (85 vs. 34% of patients, P < 0.0001). The prophylactic therapy with amiodarone significantly reduced the intensive care (1.8 +/- 1.7 vs. 2.4 +/- 1.5 days, P=0.001) and hospitalization length of stay (11.3 +/- 3.4 vs. 13.0 +/- 4.3 days, P=0.03). In the amiodarone group, concentrations of amiodarone and desethylamiodarone differed significantly between patients with AF and sinus rhythm (amiodarone: 0.96 +/- 0.5 vs. 0.62 +/- 0.4 mu g/mL, P=0.02; desethylamiodarone: 0.65 +/- 0.2 vs. 0.48 +/- 0.1 mu g/mL, P=0.04). Conclusion The incidence of post-operative AF among high-risk patients was significantly reduced by a prophylactic amiodarone treatment resulting in a shorter time of intensive care unit and hospital stay. Our data supports the prophylactic use of amiodarone in peri-operative period in patients at high risk for AF after CABG.