Therapeutic potential of flecainide for cardiac arrhythmias: a short review of studies and clinical recommendations

Abstract

Flecainide is a IC antiarrhythmic drug with a history of more than 30 years, nowadays it is widely used for the management of acute episodes of atrial fibrillation and sinus rhythm maintenance, however, firstly was approved for the treatment of ventricular arrhythmia and later due to the results of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial was contraindicated in patients with ischemic structural heart disease. Of note, flecainide use is feasible in different clinical situations, such as catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, for unmasking Brugada syndrome, and for patients with long QT syndrome. In our country, flecainide is new for clinical use; therefore, the clinical experience with flecainide is limited. In this review article, we aim to describe the use of flecainide and its role in the management of cardiac arrhythmias.