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July 14, 2025
Researchers identify why some heart rhythm drugs heighten risks when sodium levels drop
New research explains how low levels of the electrolyte sodium in the blood can disrupt the timing of the heartbeat in patients taking widely used rhythm-control medications such as flecainide, which is commonly prescribed for atrial fibrillation and other fast or irregular heart rhythms.
The study, by Virginia Tech researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in the journal Heart Rhythm, was conducted using guinea pig hearts and showed that blocking cardiac sodium channels with commonly prescribed medicine such as flecainide can make the heart’s electrical conduction unusually sensitive to even modest reductions in blood sodium levels.
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July 25, 2025, 1 p.m. | Alex Tan, M.D., Attending Electrophysiologist, Richmond Veterans Affairs Medical Center; Associate Professor of Medicine, VCU Health Pauley Heart Center | Special Seminar
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Aug. 18-19, 2025 | Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC | 4 Riverside Circle, Roanoke, Virginia
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