The procedure takes one to three hours, during which the patient is awake but mildly sedated. Local anesthetic is injected at the catheter insertion sites. Treatment Many arrhythmias do not require any treatment. For serious arrhythmias, treating the underlying heart disease sometimes controls the arrhythmia. Supraventricular arrhythmias often can be treated with drug therapy.
Ventricular arrhythmias are more complex to treat.
Drug therapy can manage many arrhythmias, but finding the right drug and dose requires care and can take some time. Common drugs for suppressing arrhythmias include beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, quinidine, digitalis preparations, and procainamide. Because of their potential serious side effects, stronger, desensitizing drugs are used only to treat life-threatening arrhythmias. All of the drugs used to treat arrhythmias have possible side effects, ranging from mild complications with beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers to more serious effects of desensitizing drugs that can, paradoxically, cause arrhythmias or make them worse. Response to drugs is usually measured by ECG, Holter monitor, or electrophysiologic study.