Study Finds Procedure Beats Drugs for Fast Heartbeat

By Marie McCullough, The Philadelphia Inquirer

For selected patients with an increasingly common heart-rhythm disorder, destroying the heart's faulty electrical pathways is far more effective than drugs, an international study shows.

The disorder, atrial fibrillation, is an irregular, fast heartbeat that causes palpitations, breathlessness, and fatigue. It raises the risk of stroke, heart failure, and sudden death.

Anti-arrhythmic drugs are the first line of treatment, but they don't always work, or stop working, and have many side effects.

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