Amiodarone for the Prevention of Reperfusion Ventricular Fibrillation

This was a prospective, randomized, double blinded study in which patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass with aortic cross clamping were randomly assigned to receive amiodarone, lidocaine, or saline placebo prior to removal of the aortic cross clamp. Specifically, we will test the hypothesis that amiodarone administration decreases the incidence of ventricular fibrillation, the number of defibrillation attempts and the total energy and current required for defibrillation should ventricular fibrillation occur.