Report by: Richard J Parris, Consultant in Emergency Medicine

Checked by: Simon F J Clarke, Consultant in Emergency Medicine

A short-cut review was carried out to establish whether calcium channel blockers are superior to digoxin for controlling the ventricular rate in patients with acute atrial fibrillation. Five studies were directly relevant to the question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these studies are shown in table 2. The clinical bottom line is that, although the evidence is limited, intravenous diltiazem produces more …