procainamide

Procainamide is a small molecule antiarrhythmic drug of the class Ia (Vaughan Williams classification), primarily used to treat life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and other abnormal heart rhythms, including supraventricular arrhythmias, atrial flutter/fibrillation, and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. It is a derivative of procaine with less central nervous system activity. The primary mechanism of action is blockade of cardiac sodium channels (sodium channel protein type 5 subunit alpha), which slows conduction velocity, increases the refractory period in cardiac tissue, and reduces myocardial excitability. This results in stabilization of cardiac electrical activity and suppression of abnormal pacemaker activity[3][4][5][6][8]. Procainamide may also have weak antimuscarinic effects.

Brand names

PronestylProcanbid

Other names

p-Amino-N-(2-diethylaminoethyl)benzamidep-Aminobenzoic diethylaminoethylamideProcainamidaProcaïnamideProcainamidum