Clinical Approach to Sudden Cardiac Death Syndromes

Clinical cardiologists are encountering an important challenge in the caring of families with inherited cardiac diseases. The majority of the inherited cardiac diseases causing sudden death express themselves at variable ages in the form of altered muscle function (i.e hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy) or in the form of arrhythmias (i.e. Brugada syndrome, long QT syndrome). However, it is not uncommon that the first sign of the disease may actually be sudden cardiac death, even before the identification of clear clinical abnormalities. In this last decade, with more than 50 new disease-associated genes identified, the possibility of genetic testing has opened a new opportunity to disease diagnosis and prevention. Clinical and genetic research is continuously on-going not only to identify those at risk, but to better define their level or risk still with limited success.

Clinical cardiologists are encountering an important challenge in the care of families with inherited cardiac diseases. The majority of the inherited cardiac diseases causing sudden death express themselves at variable ages in the form of altered muscle function – for instance hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy – or in the form of arrhythmias, including Brugada syndrome and long QT syndrome. Clinical and genetic research is continuously ongoing not only to identify those at risk but also to better define their level of risk. Deciding on the most appropriate clinical tests is a challenge in inherited diseases. It is in this situation that specialized clinical-genetic clinics have appeared to provide a complete assessment of patients and family members. The clinicians in the community, faced with a growing number of questions and doubts in the caring of these individuals, are increasingly using the expertise of these centers to address the clinical decisions in their patients.

Clinical Approach to Sudden Cardiac Death Syndromes details the main guidelines to clinicians on how to approach the patients and family members with an inherited disease. It also includes an in-depth review of what is currently available to assist in the diagnosis, prevention and risk stratification in sudden cardiac death. This book is therefore an essential reference for all cardiologists and electrophysiologists, but also this will be important reading for general practice physicians who may be responsible for the identification of families at risk.