Bretylium is an antiarrhythmic agent. It blocks the release of noradrenaline from nerve terminals. In effect, it decreases output from the peripheral sympathetic nervous system

Sympathetic nervous system

The sympathetic nervous system is one of the three parts of the autonomic nervous system, along with the enteric and parasympathetic systems. Its general action is to mobilize the body's nervous system fight-or-flight response...

. It also acts by blocking K⁺ channels and is considered a class III antiarrhythmic. The dose is 5-10 mg/kg and side effects are hypertension

Hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...

 followed by hypotension

Hypotension

In physiology and medicine, hypotension is abnormally low blood pressure, especially in the arteries of the systemic circulation. It is best understood as a physiologic state, rather than a disease. It is often associated with shock, though not necessarily indicative of it. Hypotension is the...

 and ventricular ectopy

Cardiac ectopy

Ectopic beat is a disturbance of the cardiac rhythm frequently related to the electrical conduction system of the heart, in which beats arise from fiber or group of fibers outside the region in the heart muscle ordinarily responsible for impulse formation, i.e., the Sinus node...

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It was patented in 1978 by Marvin Bacaner at the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

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Uses

It is used in emergency medicine

Emergency medicine

Emergency medicine is a medical specialty in which physicians care for patients with acute illnesses or injuries which require immediate medical attention. While not usually providing long-term or continuing care, emergency medicine physicians diagnose a variety of illnesses and undertake acute...

, cardiology

Cardiology

Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...

, and other specialties for the acute management of ventricular tachycardia

Ventricular tachycardia

Ventricular tachycardia is a tachycardia, or fast heart rhythm, that originates in one of the ventricles of the heart...

 and ventricular fibrillation

Ventricular fibrillation

Ventricular fibrillation is a condition in which there is uncoordinated contraction of the cardiac muscle of the ventricles in the heart, making them quiver rather than contract properly. Ventricular fibrillation is a medical emergency and most commonly identified arrythmia in cardiac arrest...

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It is contraindicated in patients with AV (atrioventricular)

Atrioventricular node

The atrioventricular node is a part of the electrical control system of the heart that coordinates heart rate. It electrically connects atrial and ventricular chambers...

 heart block

Heart block

A heart block can be a blockage at any level of the electrical conduction system of the heart .* Blocks that occur within the sinoatrial node are described as SA nodal blocks....

 or digoxin

Digoxin

Digoxin INN , also known as digitalis, is a purified cardiac glycoside and extracted from the foxglove plant, Digitalis lanata. Its corresponding aglycone is digoxigenin, and its acetyl derivative is acetyldigoxin...

 toxicity

Toxicity

Toxicity is the degree to which a substance can damage a living or non-living organisms. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ , such as the liver...

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Bretylium should be used only in an ICU

Intensive Care Unit

thumb|220px|ICU roomAn intensive-care unit , critical-care unit , intensive-therapy unit/intensive-treatment unit is a specialized department in a hospital that provides intensive-care medicine...

 setting and should not be used elsewhere due to its dramatic actions and its predominant side effect of hypotension

Hypotension

In physiology and medicine, hypotension is abnormally low blood pressure, especially in the arteries of the systemic circulation. It is best understood as a physiologic state, rather than a disease. It is often associated with shock, though not necessarily indicative of it. Hypotension is the...

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