Effectiveness of the Valsalva Manoeuvre for reversion of supraventricular tachycardia (Review)

We identifed three randomised controlled trials including 316 participants. All three studies compared the effectiveness of VM in reverting SVT with that of other vagal manoeuvres in a cross-over design. Two studies induced SVT within a controlled laboratory environment. Participants had ceased all medications prior to engaging in these studies. The third study reported on patients presenting to a hospital emergency department with an episode of SVT. These patients were not controlled for medications or other factors prior to intervention. The two laboratory studies demonstrated reversion rates of 45.9 and 54.3 , whilst the clinical study demonstrated reversion success of 19.4 . This discrepancy may be due to methodological differences between studies, the effect of induced SVT versus spontaneous episodic SVT, and participant factors such as medications and comorbidities. We were unable to assess any of these factors further, nor adverse effects, since they were either not described in enough detail or not reported at all. Statistical pooling was not possible due to heterogeneity between the included studies.