Fixing irregular heartbeats

There's a breakthrough procedure for patients with irregular heartbeats. Before now, the disease - atrial fibrillation - was either treated with medication or major surgery. <br/><br/>But as News

Wednesday, April 26th 2006, 10:42 am

By: News On 6

There's a breakthrough procedure for patients with irregular heartbeats. Before now, the disease - atrial fibrillation - was either treated with medication or major surgery.

But as News on 6 anchor Scott Thompson explains, doctors at Tulsa's Saint Francis Heart Hospital hope this new procedure brings more patients in who have had bad luck with prescriptions or balk at major surgery.

Bob Frizzell had the surgery last Monday. He started feeling weak just before a golf trip to Arkansas. He cancelled the trip, and instead went to the doctor. They scheduled the minimally invasive surgery. Instead of one long incision down the length of his Chest, surgeons instead make three small cuts on each side, just large enough for their tools.

The entire surgery lasted just a couple of hours and Bob was back on his feet in a few days. "I'm here to tell you, it is the thing to do as far as I'm completely sold on it."

Dr James Spann: "Not many people would want to undergo surgery if it was a big, major heart surgery. It was a very rare person who felt like going through that. Now, this allows us to give this operation to a broader populations since people know they can recover more quickly."

Bob should be back on the golf course in just a couple weeks.