Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40384969›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in cardiovascular medicine2025

Case Report: High efficacy of low-dose flecainide as an add-on therapy to a beta-blocker for treating a high burden of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias in a juvenile athlete.

Georgios A Christou, Konstantinos P Letsas, Maria Konstandi, Maria A Christou, Konstantinos A Christou, Christos Kyriakopoulos, Eleftherios Vidalakis, Stelios Tigas, Dimitrios K Christodoulou, Dimitrios N Kiortsis

Abstract readCase Reports
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Georgios A ChristouDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Konstantinos P LetsasArrhythmia Unit, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece.
Maria KonstandiDepartment of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Maria A ChristouDepartment of Endocrinology, University Hospital of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Konstantinos A ChristouDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Christos KyriakopoulosDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Eleftherios VidalakisMetropolitan General Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Stelios TigasDepartment of Endocrinology, University Hospital of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Dimitrios K ChristodoulouDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
Dimitrios N KiortsisDepartment of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The detection of frequent premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) in an athlete represents one of the most important red flags during pre-participation screening. We report the case of a 6-year-old asymptomatic male athlete practicing basketball and sailing, who was examined for pre-participation screening. His resting electrocardiogram showed very frequent, isolated, monomorphic PVCs. The PVCs exhibited a left bundle branch block morphology with an inferior axis and R/S wave precordial transition in lead V3. The most likely origin of PVCs was considered the left ventricular outflow tract. Resting transthoracic echocardiography revealed reduced left ventricular systolic function, with an ejection fraction of 43%, indicating the possible existence of PVC-induced cardiomyopathy. We detected 43,149 isolated monomorphic PVCs (PVC burden: 40%) on 24-h ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring. Initiation of treatment with atenolol 12.5 mg twice a day led to inadequate reduction of PVCs, with 29,452 isolated monomorphic PVCs (PVC burden: 29%) still observed on 24-h ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring. After adding flecainide 25 mg twice daily to atenolol treatment, 24-h ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring revealed complete resolution of ventricular arrhythmias, with no PVCs detected. Left ventricular systolic function recovered to normal. At 12 years of age, the athlete remained on combination therapy with atenolol and flecainide, continued participating in sports, and remained completely asymptomatic with normal cardiac examinations. The optimization of drug treatment was favored over catheter ablation since the athlete was a child and the probable origin of PVCs was the left ventricular outflow tract. This case report highlights that flecainide at a relatively low dose as an add-on therapy to a beta-blocker was highly effective and safe for treating high-burden PVCs originating from the ventricular outflow tract in a juvenile athlete.

Indexed as

athletecase reportflecainidesports cardiologyventricular arrhythmias

Identifiers

PMID40384969
PMCPMC12081362

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.