治療心心顫動最好的方法是什麼

Atrial fibrillation is a cardiac arrhythmia that often produces very disruptive palpitations, fatigue, and even shortness of breath. Worse, atrial fibrillation can substantially increase your risk of stroke. If you have atrial fibrillation there is little question of whether you need treatment. The question is: Which approach to treatment is the right one for you?

心顫指的是一種心律失常,它經常產生破壞性的心悸、疲勞、甚至呼吸急促。更糟糕的是心顫可以大大增加你患中風的風險。如果你患有心顫，就需要治療。問題是：哪種治療方法對你來說是合適的?

The reason this question is often a difficult one to answer is because there is no treatment for atrial fibrillation that, in a majority of patients, is both safe and effective at getting rid of the arrhythmia and restoring a normal rhythm.

這個問題的病因通常很難回答，因爲對大多數患者來說,沒有治療心顫的既安全又有效的辦法，來消除心律失常及恢復正常的心跳節奏。

Deciding on the "right" treatment for any individual with atrial fibrillation is most often a compromise.

決定任何個人治療心顫的“正確”方法通常是妥協。

If it were easy and safe to restore and maintain a normal heart rhythm, then the goal of treating atrial fibrillation would be to do just that—to get your heart rhythm back to normal and keep it there. This approach to therapy is called the rhythm-control approach. And while this indeed turns out to be the right approach for many patients, in others it is a treatment goal that is simply not achievable at an acceptable level of risk.

如果很容易並安全的恢復和維持一個正常的心律，那麼治療心顫的目標就做到了-讓你的心律恢復正常並保持正常。這種治療方法稱爲心率控制法。對於許多患者來說，雖然這的確是正確的方法，但在其他的治療目標中，不僅僅是可以在一個可接受的風險水平上是可實現的。

For many people with atrial fibrillation, an alternative approach to therapy—one that can be more effective and safer—is to allow the atrial fibrillation to persist, while taking measures to eliminate symptoms and reduce the risk of stroke. This second approach to therapy, often called the rate-control approach, means conceding that atrial fibrillation is the "new normal" and working toward controlling the heart rate (to diminish symptoms) and using anticoagulation therapy (blood thinners) or aspirin to reduce the risk of stroke.

對於許多患有心顫的人來說，一種變換治療的方法是，當採取措施消除症狀和減少中風風險時，這種方法可更有效和更安全的允許心顫持續下去。第二種治療方法通常稱爲速率控制法，這意味着承認心顫是“新常態”、致力於控制心率(減少症狀)和使用抗凝治療(血液稀釋劑)或阿司匹林降低中風的危險。

While this rate-control approach may at first glance seem less desirable than rhythm control, there are compelling reasons to use it in many patients with atrial fibrillation.

雖然這種控制速率法乍一看可能不如心率控制法需求大，但是用到一些心顫患者的身上有時很有必要。