Brugada - Sleeping Death Syndrome

Andrew D. Blaufox: Brugada Syndrome is another genetic problem that is relatively rare. It's most commonly seen in Southeast Asian males and this we call the sleeping death where young males would go to sleep and not wake up and it is also a genetic problem that is caused by problems with the influx of sodium into the heart muscle cells and it causes a malignant arrhythmia, ventricular fibrillation and sudden death.

Speaker: Can it be picked up by a cardiogram or an Echo or anything?

Andrew D. Blaufox: Brugada Syndrome is diagnosed on an EKG and the criteria are that you would have a patient who has a incomplete right bundle-branch block and ST segment elevation, at least two out of the three right precordial leads meaning V1, V2, or V3. It can sometimes be subtle and if you see any of that, you have to be highly suspicious. And the pediatric population it is sometimes difficult to discern as many children have incomplete right bundle branch block without ST Segment Elevation and that's actually normal finding. So if you see incomplete right bundle-branch block and ST segment elevation, you have to be suspicious that Brugada might be occurring.

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