title: Characteristics of inverse-computed epicardial electrograms of Brugada syndrome patients.
abstract: Brugada syndrome (BrS) causes sudden death in patients with structurally normal hearts. Manifestation of BrS in the ECG is dynamic and most patients do not show unequivocal signs of the syndrome during ECG screening. Electrograms (EGMs) of BrS patients show conduction delay and fractionation at the right ventricular outflow tract area (RVOT) and thus could be used for diagnosis, but their recording requires an invasive procedure. We have obtained 67-lead body surface potential mapping recordings (BSPM) of 6 BrS patients and 6 controls and computed their EGMs by solving the inverse problem of electrocardiography by using Tikhonov's regularization method. Inverse-computed EGMs presented similar activation times and durations in controls and BrS patients for apex and septum. However, RVOT EGMs showed a later activation in BrS patients than in controls (58 ± 7 vs. 39 ± 5 ms, p<0.01) and EGMs were longer (122 ± 22 vs. 85 ± 8 ms, p<0.01). Inverse-computed EGMs of BrS patients showed abnormalities consistent with those observed in electrophysiological studies and could be used for a non-invasive diagnosis and characterization of Brugada syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain. jorpedto@upvnet.upv.es
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pedrón-Torrecilla
authors.forename: Andreu M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Climent
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Millet
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Berné
authors.forename: Josep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brugada
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brugada
authors.forename: Maria S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Guillem
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053840:Brugada Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular