Narrator: This is Science Today. Arrhythmias – or irregular heartbeats – are the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in this country in both men and women. Just a decade ago, the only treatments were drugs, pacemakers or open-heart surgery, but cardiologist Jeffrey Olgin of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, says that's changed.

Olgin: Today, a new procedure pioneered at the UCSF Medical Center, zaps away abnormal heart tissue to cure patients with arrhythmias. The advantage of this procedure, called catheter ablation, is that it does not require incisions like open heart surgery.

Narrator: Olgin says this means patients can usually leave the hospital the same day, avoiding a long recovery or a lifetime of drug treatment. A recent UC San Francisco study of nearly 400 catheter ablation patients wfound that one month after the procedure, 98 percent required no medication and 95 percent reported considerable improvement in their overall health.

Olgin: At UCSF Heart and Vascular Center, patients have access to the latest innovations and treatments.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.