A new study has suggested that heart patients with dangerously high and rapid heartbeats who are fitted with implantable cardiac defibrillators to help control the condition, could benefit more if, prior to getting equipped with the device, they undergo a procedure called catheter ablation.

The condition where the heartbeat is much faster and higher than normal is called ventricular tachycardia, and patients who get implantable defibrillators can make them last longer than usual and also prevent recurrences of the condition, solely by the virtue of the new procedure.

Researchers at Asklepios Klinik St. Georg in Hamburg, Germany, studied some 107 patients aged 18 to 80, who had all suffered a heart attack once, had an episode of stable ventricular tachycardia and reduced left-ventricular function. They were then given implantable defibrillators either alone or along with catheter ablation, and a follow up of 2 years led the researchers to the new finding.

"Ablation can be considered early, in selected patients who are receiving an implantable cardioverter defibrillator for stable ventricular tachycardia, in whom recurrences of a ventricular tachycardia are likely", said the study authors.

Details of the study have been reported in the December 31 issue of The Lancet.