Optimal Drug Therapy for the Suppression of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Andersen-Tawil Syndrome and Multifocal Ectopic Purkinje-related Premature Contractions: a Series of N-of-1 Trials

Rationale: Andersen-Tawil syndrome (ATS) is a very rare heritable cardiac arrhythmia syndrome that is characterized by the triad of periodic paralysis, physical dysmorphisms, and ventricular arrhythmias, including bidirectional ventricular tachycardia (VT), polymorphic VT, and frequent multifocal premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). Multifocal ectopic Purkinje-related premature contractions (MEPPC) is a very rare syndrome characterized by frequent multifocal PVCs with relatively narrow QRS width. In both conditions, patients most often present with palpitations, but syncope and sudden cardiac arrest have also been reported. Left untreated, the large burden of PVCs can lead to PVC-induced cardiomyopathy. A number of therapeutic strategies are suggested in these conditions, but there is a lack of high-quality evidence on their efficacy.

Objective: To investigate the efficacy of various therapeutic strategies for reducing ventricular ectopy burden in patients with ATS or MEPPC.

Study design: Aggregated series of randomized, open-label N-of-1 trials. Each N-of-1 trial will consist of at least 2 treatment sets, each of which comprise two 7-day periods of treatment with therapy A and B, in a semi-randomized, counterbalanced order.

Study population: Adult patients with ATS or MEPPC on flecainide therapy.

Intervention: For ATS, flecainide monotherapy will be compared with combination therapy of flecainide and a β-blocker or calcium channel blocker. For MEPPC, flecainide monotherapy will be compared with combination therapy of flecainide and a β-blocker or calcium channel blocker (phase 1), and flecainide will be compared with quinidine (phase 2).

Main study endpoint: Ventricular ectopy burden on electrocardiographic monitoring.