STUDIES ON DIETHYLAMINOETHANOL

I. Physiological Disposition and Action on Cardiac Arrhythmias

¹ Medical and Research Services, Third (New York University) Medical Division, Goldwater Memorial Hospital, and Departments of Medicine, Anesthesia and Biochemistry, New York University College of Medicine, New York, N. Y.

Diethylaminoethanol, a product of the hydrolysis, in vivo, of procaine, was studied in various cardiac arrhythmias. It protected dogs under cyclopropane anesthesia from the development of ventricular premature contractions and ventricular tachycardia. It suppressed ventricular premature contractions for a short period, in human subjects. Six cases of ventricular tachycardia were successfully reverted by the drug. No effect was noted on auricular fibrillation or supraventricular tachycardia.

Diethylaminoethanol is considerably less active than procaine. The effective dose however is much safer than the correspondingly effective dose of procaine.

The physiological disposition of diethylaminoethanol was studied in man. About 25 per cent of the drug was excreted in the urine; the remainder was metabolized by an unknown route. A single dose is almost completely metabolized or excreted in 8 hours. Considerable amounts of the compound are localized in the organs of the body (dog).