Aims: Antiarrhythmic medications for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) have limited efficacy and rare but potentially life-threatening side effects. Ranolazine is an antianginal agent that may have antiarrhythmic activity in AF.
Methods and results: Using the Duke Enterprise Data Unified Content Explorer database, we analysed a cohort of AF patients on ranolazine. Patients served as their own historic control. Electrocardiograms (ECGs) were analysed before and after ranolazine initiation to determine the effect of ranolazine on dominant frequency (DF), f-wave amplitude, and organizational index (OI). We identified 15 patients with ECGs in AF before and after ranolazine. Ranolazine was associated with lower DF by an average of 10% (5.10 ± 0.74 vs. 5.79 ± 0.96 Hz, P = 0.04) but not with changes in OI (0.47 ± 0.11 vs. 0.50 ± 0.12, P = 0.71) or amplitude (0.47 ± 0.43 vs. 0.41 ± 0.40 mV, P = 0.82). Ranolazine was also associated with lower DF in patients (n = 10) not on concomitant antiarrhythmic therapy (5.25 ± 0.78 vs. 6.03 ± 0.79 Hz, P = 0.04).
Conclusion: Ranolazine is associated with lower AF DF but no change in OI or fibrillatory wave amplitude. Prospective trials are needed to evaluate ranolazine's potential as a novel antiarrhythmic drug for AF.
Keywords: Antiarrhythmic; Atrial fibrillation; Dominant frequency; Ranolazine; f-wave.
Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2016. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.