The September 5 2006 issue of Circulation contained a guideline, based on collaboration between the American Heart Assn, the American College of Cardiology, and the European Society of Cardiology, indicating that procainamide was preferable to amiodarone for the treatment of stable monomorphic ventricular tachycardia.
The 2010 AHA Guidelines have now also listed procainamide as the preferred drug for stable monomorphic ventricular tachycardia, giving it a Class IIa ("probably helpful") rating vs. amiodarone which has a Class IIb ("possibly helpful") rating. [thanks to Dr. Mike Abraham for pointing this out]
Procainamide is also the safest drug for use in tachydysrhythmias when an accessory pathway (e.g. Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome) is present.
The caveat is that neither procainamide nor amiodarone should be used in the presence of a prolonged QTc.
Acute care physicians should (re-)familiarize themselves with the use of procainamide, and emergency departments should maintain quick access to this drug to stay up-to-date with current national and international guidelines.
References
ACC/AHA/ESC 2006 Guidelines for Management of Patients With Ventricular Arrhythmias and the Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death — Executive Summary (many many authors) Circulation 2006;114:1088-1132.
Neumar RW, et al. Part 8: Adult Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support: 2010 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Circulation 2010;122:S729-767.
