Med News Today

Ablation Trumps Drugs in Trial

BOSTON (Reuters) - A technique to treat irregular heart beats using a method known as ablation was substantially more effective than anti-arrhythmic drugs in a clinical trial.

A 12-month trial of 112 patients showed the ablation technique had a 75 percent success rate in preventing arrhythmias in patients who had failed at least one drug regimen, compared with a success rate of just 6 percent for patients who received drug therapy alone, according to data presented on Saturday at a meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society in Boston.

During ablation, a doctor inserts a catheter, or thin, flexible tube, into the heart. A special machine delivers energy through the catheter to areas of the heart muscle that cause abnormal heart rhythm and disconnects that pathway.

Initially, about half the patients in the trial received drugs alone and half received ablation. But 37 patients in the drug group joined the ablation group because the drugs were not adequately controlling their arrhythmia, according to Dr. Pierre Jais, a cardiologist at Haut-Leveque Hospital in France, who led the trial.

Of the millions of patients who suffer from atrial fibrillation, only about 30,000 a year are treated using ablation, Jais said. That could change with trials such as this one, he said.

posted by nattietodd @ 4:01 AM