A 'game changer' for patients with irregular heart rhythm

The treatment requires weeks to take full effect, so it cannot be used for cardiac patients who need immediate help

The patients were gravely ill, their hearts scarred by infections or heart attacks. In each, the electrical system that maintains a regular heartbeat had been short-circuited.

They suffered frequent bursts of rapid heartbeats, which can end in sudden death. The condition kills an estimated 325,000 Americans each year, the most common cause of death in this country. And these people had exhausted all conventional treatments.

So researchers at Washington University in St Louis offered the patients something experimental: short bursts of radiation aimed at their hearts in an effort to obliterate the cells that were causing the electrical malfunctions.

Results in the first