Ventricular Tachycardia

Efficacy of Alternative and Other Treatments According to GRADE* Ranking:

Mistletoe (Iscador, Viscum Album) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]:

Please note, this management does NOT treat the condition itself. It may mildly help with some of the symptoms, and even then has insufficient evidence to back up this claim at present. WARNING: The mistletoe plant should NOT be eaten because it is poisonous. May cause seizures, coma and death. It should only be taken as a purified mistletoe extract, and only in recommended doses.

Recommendation: No recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to support claims that mistletoe has any affect on the treatment of tachycardia)

Grade of Evidence: low quality of evidence

* www.gradeworkinggroup.org

Summary References

Treatments:

1. Ades T, Alteri R, Gansler T, Yeargin P, "Complete Guide to Complimentary & Alternative Cancer Therapies", American Cancer Society, Atlanta USA, 2009

2. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/mistletoe

3. http://nccam.nih.gov/health/mistletoe/ataglance.htm

4. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002883.htm

5. http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mistle40.html

6. http://www.bmj.com/content/333/7582/1293.full?ijkey=56e55886cc53e0c478801e74001edc3bea1c322e&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

7. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/760963-overview

8. http://www.ivillage.com/ventricular-tachycardia/4-y-93143

9. http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/conditions/ventricular_tachycardia/

10. http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/000187.htm

11. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/159075-overview

12. http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec03/ch027/ch027g.html#sec03-ch027-ch027g-544

13. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=64

14. http://www.ihealthdirectory.com/ventricular-tachycardia/

15. http://nyp.org/health/ventricular-tachycardia-fibrillation.html

16. http://www.biosensewebster.com/patienteducation/ventricular-tachycardia.aspx

17. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000187.htm

18. Olgin JE, Zipes DP. Specific Arrhythmias: Diagnosis and Treatment. In: Libby P, Bonow RO, Mann DL, Zipes DP. Libby: Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 35.

19. Epstein AE, DiMarco JP, Ellenbogen KA, Estes NA 3rd, Freedman RA, Gettes LS, et al. ACC/AHA,HRS 2008 Guidelines for Device-Based Therapy of Cardiac Rhythm Abnormalities: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Revise the ACC?AHA/NASPE 2002 Guideline Update for Implantation of Cardiac Pacemakers and Antiarrhythmia Devices): developed in collaboration with the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Circulation. 117:e350-e408.

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