(HealthDay News) -- Adding one step and no more than 20 seconds to heart surgery can greatly improve the results of an operation to treat the common irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, according to a new report. In the April issue of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, heart surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis reported that one extra ablation -- a precise scar that destroys the heart muscle tissue housing the short circuit responsible for the irregular heartbeat -- to a series of such scars already being made during the surgery makes a significant difference.
