Or...Search this site Home Symptoms Live Discussion Diagnosis Treatment Area Support Library Research Lymelinks Contact Pets & Lyme DONATIONS Drug Look Up Medical Dictionary Board of Directors      Click on the graphic to vote for this site as a Starting Point Hot Site. -- No Warranties or Representations The data and information presented in this web site are presented in good faith and believed to be accurate. Any and all liability for the content or any omissions including any inaccuracies, errors, or misstatements in such data or information is expressly disclaimed. The web site is compiled for the sole purpose of informing community members of resources and information pertaining to Lyme Borreliosis Disease and its coinfections. The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, Directors and members are not liable for any direct or indirect damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of information available from this website. Consult a qualified Lyme ( Borreliosis ) Disease literate doctor for medical advice if Lyme Disease is suspect. en français For Physicians Ticks Coinfections Prevention Our Stories Click Here to order our free Lyme Disease Flyer,    Here for our free Lyme Disease Poster ..documents may be copied (to distribute) but edit only for alignment. Fish Oil Inhibits Sustained Ventricular Tachycardia Laurie Barclay, MD Medscape Medical News 2004. © 2004 Medscape http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/474918 April 30, 2004 - An infusion of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) had immediate inhibitory effects on sustained ventricular tachycardia, according to the results of a pilot study published in the May 1 issue of The Lancet. "Increased consumption of n-3 fatty acids reduces mortality from sudden cardiac death, indicating that such acids have anti-arrhythmic effects," write Rainer Schrepf, from Kardiologie Medizinische Poliklinik in Munich, Germany, and colleagues. "Our findings show that infusion of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids does not induce arrhythmia, but did result in a reduction of sustained ventricular tachycardia in some patients." The investigators performed electrophysiological testing in 10 patients with implanted cardioverter defibrillators who were at high risk of sudden cardiac death. In seven of the 10 patients, sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia was inducible at baseline. After infusion of n-3 PUFA in the seven inducible patients, monomorphic sustained ventricular tachycardia could no longer be induced in five patients. One of the remaining patients was still inducible, and the other was induced only after a more aggressive stimulation (three rather than two extra stimuli). Limitations of this pilot study include the small number of patients, the absence of randomization, and the absence of a placebo group. "The results indicate that infusion of n-3 PUFA does not induce arrhythmia. By contrast, induction of sustained ventricular tachycardia was reduced in five of seven patients after infusion of n-3 PUFA," the authors write. "These preliminary findings require confirmation in blinded, placebo-controlled, randomised trials before definitive conclusions about the anti-arrhythmic effects of n-3 PUFA in human beings can be drawn." Dr. Schrepf has given lectures sponsored by Medtronic, St. Jude Medical, and Guidant. Another author has given lectures sponsored by Fresenius-Kabi and Orthomol GmbH. In an accompanying editorial, Christine Albert, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, reviews the data on cardiovascular risk reduction related to fish consumption. "As has been shown with traditional anti-arrhythmic drugs, suppression of ventricular tachycardia during electrophysiological testing does not directly translate into a survival benefit when the same drugs are administered chronically," she writes. "Therefore the implications of these data on their own, in conjunction with previous experimental data, provide a possible mechanism to explain the preferential benefit seen with dietary intake of n-3 fatty acids on sudden cardiac death in the earlier observational studies and randomized trials." Dr. Albert recommends confirmation of these preliminary data in randomized trials with hard arrhythmic end points in combination with mortality, and she notes that three randomized trials of the effect of fish-oil supplementation on recurrent episodes of ventricular tachycardia and/or fibrillation are ongoing. "If these and other trials confirm the anti-arrhythmic properties of these n-3 acids, fish oil might become a less toxic and more appetizing alternative to traditional anti-arrhythmic drugs," she concludes. Lancet. 2004;363:1412-1413, 1441-1442 Reviewed by Gary D. Vogin, MD