Treatment options may include medications, cardioversion, pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, surgery, or radiofrequency catheter ablation of the arrhythmia focus. Treatment Options Medication - Antiarrhythmic drugs are medications that treat or control arrhythmias. A variety of antiarrhythmics are available, and because everyone is different, it may take trials of several agents to find a medication and dose that works best. After administration of a short-acting general anesthetic, cardioversion is performed by delivering an electrical shock to the chest wall that synchronizes the heart and allows the normal rhythm to restart. Permanent pacemaker - A device that sends small electrical impulses to the heart muscle to maintain a suitable heart rate.
Pacemakers primarily prevent the heart from beating too slowly.
Some pacemakers can increase the heart rate with activity. Newer pacemakers have many sophisticated features that are designed to help with the management of arrhythmias and to optimize heart rate-related function as much as possible. A sophisticated device that is used primarily to treat ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation, two life-threatening heart rhythms. In both cases, the heart beats very fast and requires urgent treatment or death can occur. The ICD constantly monitors the heart rhythm.