The findings hold great significance for both patients and physicians

Dr Andrew Blaufox, paediatrics expert

The report's author Dr Andrew Blaufox, professor of paediatric cardiology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, said: "The findings hold great significance for both patients and physicians.

"Where you have infants with serious arrhythmias, some clinical problems, and who need multiple drugs to control their heart rhythms, ablation is a real alternative."

Doctors began treating patients with RFCA in the late 1980s.

Safety concerns

Success rates have risen over the years and the rate of complications has dropped.

But there are still concerns over the safety and efficiency of using RFCA in infants.

Studies on animals show RFCA might adversely affect normal blood flow in parts of the heart.

However, in some circumstances, the procedure is preferable for babies.

This happens because arrhythmias are often more difficult to treat with medication in infants.

RFCA is often preferred

The research team compared 137 babies aged two weeks to 18 months, who underwent the procedure, with 5,960 patients aged 19 months to 21 years, who had RFCA.

Among the infants in the study, 36% had congenital heart defects, compared with 11% of the older patients and 33% underwent RFCA for life-threatening heart rhythms, against 7.7% in the older group.

The effectiveness of RFCA favoured older patients, 90%, against 87.6% in babies.

A total of 12 major and minor complications occurred in the infant group, including one death.

Dr Blaufox said success of RFCA was unrelated to a patient's weight or age or whether or not the patient had a heart defect.

He said: "However, more experienced physicians are more likely to perform successful procedures in infants than those with less experience."