A no-surgery fix for atrial fibrillation?

Published: May, 2010

Catheter ablation can halt atrial fibrillation, but side effects and durability pose problems.

What's the best way to treat atrial fibrillation, the fast and chaotic beating of the heart's upper chambers? Taking medicine to help the heart maintain a normal, steady beat sounds like a logical strategy. But the drugs for doing this don't always work and sometimes cause side effects as bad as the disease. Another option is taking medicine to make the powerful lower chambers (the ventricles) keep a slow, steady beat no matter what the atria are doing.

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