title: Long-term prognosis of asymptomatic individuals with spontaneous or drug-induced type 1 electrocardiographic phenotype of Brugada syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Risk stratification of asymptomatic individuals with type 1 electrocardiogram (ECG) phenotype of Brugada syndrome (BS) still remains controversial. This study investigated the long-term prognosis of asymptomatic subjects with spontaneous or drug-induced type 1 ECG pattern of BS.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data from 33 apparently healthy individuals (30 males; age, 43.6 ± 13.4 years) with spontaneous (n = 12) or drug-induced (n = 21) type 1 ECG pattern of BS were retrospectively analyzed. Thirteen subjects (39.4%) displayed a positive family history of BS and/or sudden cardiac death. Electrophysiologic study was performed in 16 subjects, and programed right ventricular stimulation induced polymorphic ventricular tachycardia in 9 (56.3%) of them. A cardioverter defibrillator was implanted in 6 cases. During a mean follow-up period of 5.3 ± 2.8 years, all subjects remained asymptomatic. None of them had syncope or cardioverter defibrillator discharges due to ventricular arrhythmias.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Asymptomatic individuals with spontaneous or drug-induced type 1 ECG phenotype of BS display a benign clinical course during long-term follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Cardiology, Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece. k.letsas@mail.gr
authors.forename: Konstantinos P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Letsas
authors.forename: Reinhold
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Efremidis
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Korantzopoulos
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Astheimer
authors.forename: Charalampos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Charalampous
authors.forename: Spyros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsikrikas
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fragakis
authors.forename: Dietrich
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kalusche
authors.forename: Antonios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sideris
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arentz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053840:Brugada Syndrome / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment