From syncope to ICD: clinical paths of the Brugada syndrome

This review summarizes the evidences in the literature on the management of the Brugada syndrome (BS), an arrhythmogenic disease caused by genetic channelopathies, predisposing to syncope and sudden cardiac death in young, apparently healthy, typically male subjects, in the third and fourth decade of their life. Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is defined as natural death from cardiac causes, heralded by abrupt loss of consciousness within one hour of the onset of symptoms. It ranks among the main causes of death in the western world, with an incidence ranging from 0.36 and 1.28‰ inhabitants per year, equal to 300,000 cases a year in the USA. In the majority of the cases it is due to the onset of arrhythmia in subjects with structural cardiac diseases, especially ischemic heart disease. However, in a non-negligible percentage of the cases, about 5-10%, the SCD arises in relatively young individuals in whom cardiac anomalies cannot be detected using traditional diagnostic techniques. About 20% of these cases can be attributed to SB. In spite of the many efforts produced to identify an effective pharmacological treatment, to date the only aid to reduce the mortality rate in subjects with SB is an implantable cardio-defibrillator (ICD). Since this approach often entails complications, the efforts of the scientific community is now focused on the assessment of the arrhythmic risk. The identification of high-risk subjects is one of the chief objectives in the therapeutic decision-making process. ABSTRACT clinica e terapia emergency