Fish oil supplements may harm patients with abnormal heart rhythms (defib)

[HuckleB]

Fish oil supplements may be harmful to patients with abnormal heart rhythms

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=26128

"Fish oil supplements have proved effective in reducing the risk of sudden cardiac death, but a new study shows the oil may actually increase life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms in patients with implanted defibrillators.

The study, led by heart researchers at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Oregon Health & Science University will be published in the June 15 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

"We were very surprised by the study results. Previous studies have suggested that fish oil might actually prevent life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms," said Merritt Raitt, M.D., physician at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and associate professor of medicine (cardiology) in the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine. "But our results indicate that this supplement might actually be harmful and increase the risk of life-threatening heart rhythms in this group of patients."

Researchers enrolled patients who had suffered from recent episodes of either ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF), dangerous rapid heart rhythms that originate in the ventricles of the heart, the main pumping chambers, and can lead to cardiac arrest and sudden death. The study specifically looked at 200 patients from six medical centers between February 1999 to January 2003. All the patients had implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) that protected them against these life-threatening abnormal heart rhythms by automatically detecting and treating VT and VF with pacing and/or shocks.


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