Spontaneous variability of simple and complex ventricular premature contractions during long time intervals in patients with severe organic heart disease.

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Abstract
Calculations of the spontaneous variability of ventricular arrhythmias are usually based upon the results of Holter electrocardiograms recorded either successively or separated by a short time interval. Only recently was it shown that the variability of ventricular premature contractions increases with longer intervals. This study was undertaken to investigate the variability of simple and complex ventricular arrhythmias over long periods to derive efficacy criteria for long-term antiarrhythmic therapy. In a prospective study, the influence of the length of the time interval on spontaneous variability was investigated in 100 patients with coronary artery disease or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and untreated ventricular arrhythmia Lown grade IV. Patient follow-up was carried out for 260 +/- 387 days. In each of the 498 ambulatory Holter tapes, the mean hourly arrhythmia count (AC) of ventricular premature contractions, couplets, and salvos was verified. The variability of arrhythmia counts between two...