The prognostic significance of drug therapy based on the electrophysiologic study (EPS) was examined during a mean follow-up period of 32 months in 45 patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia (SVT) and in 87 with nonsustained VT (NSVT), and in 7 survivors of cardiac arrest. The drug treatment during the follow-up period was divided into EPS-guided therapy and empirical therapy; in the former therapy, an effective drug for prevention of induced VT by EPS was given and in the latter therapy, an empirical drug was used because there was no effective drugs by EPS. Occurrence of SVT or sudden cardiac death was considered as an arrhythmic event. Of 45 patients with SVT, Group I consisted of 32 cases with organic heart disease (OHD) and Group II. 13 without OHD. In Group I, arrhythmic event occurred in only 2 of 15 patients with EPS-guided therapy, whereas 9 of 13 cases with empirical therapy had arrhythmic event (p<0.01). In Group II, no arrhythmic event was observed in the 9 patients with EPS-guided therapy, whereas it was seen in 3 of the 4 patients with empirical therapy (p<0.05). Of 87 patients with NSVT, 61 cases had OHD (Group III). SVT was induced by EPS in 13 patients in Group III. Arrhythmic event was not observed in 8 patients with EPS-guided therapy, whereas it was seen in 3 of the 5 patients with empirical therapy (p<0.05). Arrhythmic event occurred in 2 survivors of cardiac arrest who underwent empirical therapy. These results suggest that EPS is a useful method for the prediction of life-threatening arrhythmias and for the selection of optimal drugs to prevent these arrhythmias.