(Reuters)

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has approved Johnson & Johnson’s device for a type of condition which causes abnormal heart rhythm, the company said on Thursday.

The device, Varipulse, is a pulsed field ablation system which uses small burns or freezes to cause some scarring in the inside of the heart to help break up the electrical signals that cause irregular heartbeats.

Medical device makers such as Boston Scientific and Medtronic also have devices approved for atrial fibrillation, a condition that is characterized by an irregular rhythm of the heart.

The health regulator has approved the use of the J&J device for the treatment of drug refractory paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, in which the symptoms are occasional and usually last between a few minutes and hours.