DeRosa fine after heart procedure

Feb 29, 2008 - 2:29 AM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa successfully underwent a radiofrequency catheter ablation Thursday, a procedure that is an attempt to cure his irregular heartbeat, according to a report on MLB.com

Dr. Stephen Adams told the website that DeRosa was resting comfortably at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Dr. Alan Kadish, a cardiovascular electrophysiologist, performed the procedure.

DeRosa had flown to Chicago on Monday to be examined after being forced to leave practice Saturday because of an irregular heartbeat.

Adams told the website the plan was for DeRosa to undergo an electrophysiology study in which Kadish would put a catheter in a vein, probably the femoral vein. The EPS is done in an attempt to induce an atrial arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat.

Depending on what the doctors found, DeRosa would then undergo the radiofrequency catheter ablation.

DeRosa could return to Arizona on Sunday and could resume taking batting practice by the beginning of next week, according to the report.

DeRosa, who turned 33 on Tuesday, was first diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat when he was a teen, and told the Cubs medical staff that it has been occurring with increasing frequency.