According to a new study that was recently presented at the American Heart Association’s 2012 Scientific Session, fish oil doesn’t do much to help post-operative AF patients.

Dr. Roberto Marchioli (Consorzio Mario Negri Sud, Santa Maria Imbaro, Italy), who presented the findings of the OPERA study, says that there was no difference between the patients who received the omega 3 treatment and those who were given placebos when it came to preventing post-operative AF.

“In this setting — patients undergoing cardiac surgery — omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may simply not be powerful enough to be effective in preventing arrhythmias,” Marchioli said at a media briefing. “The same could be true in other settings where arrhythmias are already established.”

The study concluded that the fish oil treatment just didn’t do enough in preventing heart complications to warrant its use being touted as a real treatment option. This is the second study conducted to test fish oil’s benefits. The other one was called FORWARD, which looked to see whether 1 g of fish oil daily could prevent AF recurrences. The study showed that it didn’t.

This new OPERA study is published in the online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, with Machioli as the second author and Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.) as the lead author. Both the FORWARD and OPERA studies have basically proven that fish oil is not a viable treatment for AF, and it is likely not to be addressed any further in that regard.

This study basically pointed out that as far as post-operative AF is concerned, prescription medications will still be touted as a go-to option in AF recurrences. Prescription medications that are used for treating AF are anticoagulants like Multaq. Multaq is not often prescribed anymore since it was found that the drug causes liver failure and a worsening of the heart condition for some patients.

If you or a loved one has suffered from liver failure or a worsening heart condition after being treated with Multaq, contact the attorneys at Greg Jones today for a free consultation. I am experienced at fighting Multaq lawsuits and may be able to help you recover money for your injuries.