(January 26, 2010 - Insidermedicine) 

Individuals suffering from atrial fibrillation that does not respond to a drug designed to treat heart rhythm disorders would likely do better with catheter ablation than with more drugs, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Here is some information about atrial fibrillation:

•    It is the most common type of heart arrhythmia

•    Untreated, it can lead to fatigue and stroke

•    It can be treated with drugs that stabilize heart rhythm, called antiarrhythmics, or with catheter ablation, in which the section of the heart that is the source of the arrhythmia is burned away, or ablated.

 Researchers from Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood randomly assigned over 150 individuals with atrial fibrillation to treatment with antiarrhythmic drug therapy or catheter ablation. All of the individuals had taken an antiarrhythmic drug in the past without success.

At the end of a 9-month evaluation period, 84% of the individuals who received drug therapy continued to have symptoms to such a degree that treatment was considered a failure. In contrast, only 33% of those who underwent catheter ablation experienced a failure of treatment. Three months after the start of therapy, those who received catheter ablation had significantly greater increases in their quality of life than those on drug therapy, and this improvement was maintained throughout the study.

Today’s research suggests that individuals with atrial fibrillation who do not experience relief from an antiarrhythmic drug should be immediately treated with catheter ablation rather than additional drugs.