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WEDNESDAY, July 16, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A pulmonary vein ablation technique developed in Italy works better than drugs in people with atrial fibrillation.
The finding is reported in the July 16 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal electrical signals in the heart), affecting more than 5 million people worldwide. People with atrial fibrillation have an increased risk of stroke, heart failure and other health problems.
In this study of 1,171 people with atrial fibrillation, 589 had the new pulmonary vein ablation technique and 582 were treated with anti-arrhythmic medications.
In this ablation technique, the patient's left atrium and pulmonary vein are mapped in three-dimensional form. A catheter is then threaded through the patient's blood vessels into the area where the atrium connects to the pulmonary vein.
Radio frequency pulses emitted from the tip of the catheter produce circular scars meant to interrupt the abnormal electrical signals that trigger atrial fibrillation.
At a median follow-up point of 2.5 years, the survival rate for the patients who had ablation was longer than the patients who were treated with drugs. The patients in the ablation group had less than half the death rate of the other group -- 36 deaths (6 percent) in the ablated group compared to 83 deaths (14 percent) in the drug-treatment group.
"Pulmonary vein ablation improves mortality, morbidity and quality of life as compared with medical therapy. Our findings pave the way for randomized trials to test a wider application of ablation therapy for atrial fibrillation," lead author Dr. Carlo Pappone says in a news release.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about atrial fibrillation.
