AICDs effective for symptoms, lethal arrhythmia in Brugada

(HealthDay)—Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are effective in young patients with symptomatic Brugada syndrome, according to a study published in the Jan. 16 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

M. Cecilia Gonzalez Corcia, M.D., from Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel-Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and colleagues investigated clinical features, management, and long-term follow-up (mean, 88 months) of 35 young patients (mean age, 13.9 years) with Brugada syndrome who had an ICD implanted at an age of ≤20 years.

The researchers found that the vast majority of patients (92 percent) were symptomatic, including 29 percent presented with aborted sudden cardiac death and 63 percent with syncope. ICDs treated sustained ventricular arrhythmias in nine patients, including shocks in eight patients (23 percent) and antitachycardia pacing in one patient. An electrical storm caused death in three patients, while seven patients experienced inappropriate shocks and five patients had device-related complications. Independent predictors of appropriate shock occurrence were aborted sudden cardiac death and spontaneous type I electrocardiogram.

"ICD therapy is an effective strategy in young patients with symptomatic Brugada syndrome, treating potentially lethal arrhythmias in >25 percent of patients during follow-up," the authors write.

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