A systematic review including 60 studies, including acute termination of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) (8 studies, 153 patients), chronic suppression of SVT (6 studies, 214 patients), acute termination of atrial fibrillation (AF) (27 studies, 1843 patients), and suppression of AF (25 studies, 1105 patients) was abstracted in DARE.
Propafenone successfully terminated 83.8% (95% CI 78.1 to 89.7) of supraventricular tachycardias, and the proportion of patients remaining in sinus rhythm without recurrent tachyarrhythmia at 1 year was 64.6% (95% CI 58.1 to 71.1%). The likelihood of converting a paroxysm of AF increased over time, with 76.1% (95% CI 72.8 to 79.4%) of patients in sinus rhythm at 24 hours after the initiation of therapy. Propafenone was effective in suppressing recurrences of AF in 55.4% (95% CI 51.3 to 59.7%) of instances at 6 months.