Tag: Ventricular arrhythmia

Amiodarone is a potent antiarrhythmic drug approved by the FDA for treating life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. This article explores what is amiodarone prescribed for, including its common off-label uses, how it works, and the critical monitoring its significant side effect profile requires.

Mexiletine, an antiarrhythmic drug structurally similar to the anesthetic lidocaine but active orally, primarily works by blocking sodium channels. In the body, this action helps stabilize heart rhythms and can alleviate certain types of nerve-related pain and muscle stiffness by impacting electrical impulses in both cardiac and nervous systems.

Recent studies estimate that atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder, affects nearly 5% of the U.S. adult population [1.9.2]. For managing this and other arrhythmias, medications are crucial, leading many to ask: **Is sotalol a beta blocker?** The answer is complex, as it has a dual identity.