How can ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation be treated and prevented?
Medications have traditionally been used in preventing ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation. Examples of these medications include Pronestyl and Cordarone and beta-blockers such as Tenormin and Inderal. Medicines, however, are not always successful in preventing tachycardias or in terminating tachycardias once they occur. Once a life threatening tachycardia occurs, the most effective treatment is to administer mild electric shock(s) to the heart to terminate the tachycardia and reset the heart rhythm to normal. If a patient is in cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation, the treatment is the delivery of a strong electrical shock to the fibrillating heart without delay. Irreversible brain and other organ damages can occur within minutes if the normal heart rhythm is not restored. Most patients can potentially be saved if shocks are delivered quickly to convert the fibrillation to normal rhythm before irreversible brain damages occur. The electrical shocks (mild and strong) tha
