ABSTRACT

Hong Kong Med J 2013;19:159–67 | Number 2, April 2013
REVIEW ARTICLE
Brugada syndrome
Jessica Jellins, Mitchell Milanovic, David-Joel Taitz, SH Wan, PW Yam
School of Medicine, Sydney, The University of Notre Dame Australia, 160 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst NSW 2010, Australia
 
 
As a clinical entity the Brugada syndrome has existed since 1992 and has been associated with a high risk of sudden cardiac death predominately in younger males. Patients can present with symptoms (ie syncope, palpitations, aborted sudden cardiac death) and asymptomatically. Its three characteristic electrocardiographic patterns can occur both spontaneously or after provocation with sodium channel-blocking agents. Risk stratification and the need for treatment depend on the patient's symptoms, electrocardiography, family history, and electrophysiological inducibility to discern if treatment by implantable cardioverter defibrillator, the only effective treatment to date, is appropriate. This review focuses on Brugada syndrome and various aspects of the disease including proposed mechanisms, epidemiology, clinical presentations, genetics, diagnosis, risk stratification, and treatment options.
 
Key words: Brugada syndrome; Channelopathies; Death, sudden, cardiac
 
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