Efficacy of Adenosine Versus Verapamil in Terminating Acute Attacks of Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia: A Systematic Review

Paroxysmal supraventricular arrhythmias are a group of common rhythm disturbances that are often prevalent, frequently recurrent, sporadic, and life-threatening. These arrhythmias are precipitated by factors such as age, sex, and associated comorbidities. Typically, patients with paroxysmal arrhythmias are asymptomatic during evaluation, and the condition is often detected incidentally. Symptoms associated with these arrhythmias include palpitations, fatigue, light-headedness, chest discomfort, dyspnea, presyncope, and, less commonly, polyuria and serious psychological distress. In terms of treatment, common modalities include antiarrhythmic drug therapy and catheter ablation. When selecting drug therapy, factors such as comorbidities, patient-specific modifiers, preferences, follow-up frequency, and cost-effectiveness are taken into account. For long-term treatment, calcium channel blockers are often used instead of adenosine, while adenosine is preferred for acute attacks due to its higher efficacy. Comparatively, adenosine and verapamil are commonly used drugs in the emergency setting to treat paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT). Adenosine exhibits a faster onset of action, but adverse effects occur more commonly, whereas verapamil has a slower onset of action and a lower incidence of adverse effects. We searched for articles from PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), and Science Direct, and these articles were reviewed systematically. After applying the search strategy to these databases, 195 articles were identified. Fourteen of these were finalized for review. The efficacy of adenosine versus verapamil in terminating acute attacks of PSVT is reviewed in our article.