Clinical Audit on the Use of Antiarrhythmic Drugs in Pediatric Age Group

Arrhythmias occur in children and adolescents with congenital heart disease as well as those with structurally normal hearts.

Rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias) are not uncommon in sick children admitted in pediatric intensive care unit. These occur as a result of abnormalities in, or insults to, the cardiac conduction system or heart tissues. A rhythm disturbance in a child should be treated as life threatening emergency.

The generation of the action potential and the regional differences that are observed throughout the heart are the result of the selective permeability of ion channels distributed on the cell membrane.

Abnormalities in surface membrane ion channel function are central to arrhythmogenesis.

Antiarrhythmic medications primarily affect the ion channels in cardiac myocytes that are responsible for generating currents that create the action potential.