Freezing, Medicating Away a Dangerous Irregular Heart Rhythm

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But the study was small and the results preliminary, Packer cautioned. A larger trial that will include 3,000 people with atrial fibrillation at 180 centers around the world is beginning, and will look not only at immediate effects on the condition but also at death rates, bleeding incidents and other complications, he said.

"A trial like this has to be not only about mortality but also other issues such as stroke," Packer said. "If these patients have a good quality of life at low cost, the treatment will be justified."

A third study showed that the current goal of strict control of heart rate in people with atrial fibrillation might not be necessary, said Dr. Isabelle C. Van Gelder, professor of cardiology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

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Her team assigned 614 people with atrial fibrillation to so-called "lenient" rate control, defined as a heartbeat of less than 110 beats per minute at rest, or "strict" control, defined as 80 beats per minute at rest, 110 during moderate exercise. Heart rate was controlled by drug therapy with beta blockers, calcium-channel blockers and/or digoxin.

The team found that when it comes to heartbeat control, a "less is more" approach won out.

"We concluded that for patients with new atrial fibrillation, lenient control was better," Van Gelder said. "We showed that lenient rate control was achieved in many more patients than strict rate control, 98 percent versus 67 percent, and that it was much more convenient for the doctors and these patients, who were elderly."

The researchers measured the incidence of deaths, hospitalizations and serious complications over three years -- 12.9 percent in the lenient-control group, 14.9 percent in the strict-control group.

"There was [also] no difference in quality of life," Van Gelder said. "So we can conclude that lenient rate control can be adopted as a first strategy, which is much more convenient for patients, general physicians and cardiologists."

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