E97 - Bayes and Calcium Before Diltiazem in Atrial Fibrillation

We covered a paper in episode 81 that suggested treating atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response in the field could lower mortality. But it also drops BP a bit. Could pretreating these patients with calcium lower the risk of hypotension? Dr Jarvis puts on his nerd hat and uses Bayesian analysis to assess a new randomized, placebo-controlled study that looked at just this thing. Why is he going off on this Bayes thing? Because he’s been reading a couple of book on it and wanted to take it for a spin. Tables: Charts: Bayesian Distributions: Citation: 1. Az A, Sogut O, Dogan Y, Akdemir T, Ergenc H, Umit TB, Celik AF, Armagan BN, Bilici E, Cakmak S: Reducing diltiazem-related hypotension in atrial fibrillation: Role of pretreatment intravenous calcium. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2025;February;88:23–8. 2. Fornage LB, O’Neil C, Dowker SR, Wanta ER, Lewis RS, Brown LH: Prehospital Intervention Improves Outcomes for Patients Presenting in Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Response. Prehospital Emergency Care. doi: 10.1080/10903127.2023.2283885 (Epub ahead of print). 3. Kolkebeck T, Abbrescia K, Pfaff J, Glynn T, Ward JA: Calcium chloride before i.v. di…