Edwards to eliminate 70 jobs in reorganization

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said that it had dropped its laser treatment for a type of abnormal heart rhythm and that it would cut 70 jobs and take a $16-million pretax charge as it reorganized operations.

Irvine-based Edwards, best known as a maker of heart valves, said it discontinued its Optiwave 980 Cardiac Laser Ablation system designed to treat atrial fibrillation, a common but difficult-to-treat heart rhythm in which the upper chambers of the heart beat out of sync.