الفهرس 
Prevalence and evaluation of prematureOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are common and occur in a broad spectrum of the population. This includes patients without structural heart disease and those with any form of cardiac disease, independent of severity.
Ventricular premature beats produce few or no symptoms in the vast majority of patients, although occasional patients are incapacitated by palpitations or dizziness. PVCs rarely cause true hemodynamic compromise except in patients with frequent PVCs and severely depressed left ventricular function or when they are concurrent with a bradycardia.
This randomized clinical study included 50 patients with frequent symptomatic PVCs with no underlying cause, including 17 (34%) females and 33 (66%) males. The patients were selected as out-patients of national heart institute during the period between September 2007 and September 2009.
Patients with curable etiology for PVCs were excluded from the study.
The patients were randomized into two groups:
Group (I) included 25 patients who received mexiletine in a dose of 200mg every 8 hours for one week.
Group (II) included 25 patients who received atenolol in a dose of 50 mg once daily for one week.
All patients were monitored for 24- hours with a Holter recorder using 3 channel Burdick visionTM 5L, with digital solid state recorder.