title: Prevalence of prominent J waves in patients presenting with ventricular fibrillation without structural heart disease: a single-center study.
abstract: Association between sudden cardiac arrest and early repolarization (QRS slurring in the inferolateral leads) has drawn recent attention. We retrospectively assessed the prevalence of electrocardiographic J waves in 19 men aged 46.5±13.7 years who, between 1979 and 2011, were resuscitated after cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. There was no structural heart disease in this group. The J wave is an elevation of the QRS-ST junction of at least 0.1mV from baseline in the inferior or lateral leads, manifested as QRS slurring or notching. Eleven patients (age, 37.3±13.9 years) showed J waves in the inferior leads (n=8) or in both the inferior and lateral leads (n=3). Brugada syndrome was diagnosed in 5 patients (age, 46.4±15.7 years). The QRS complex was normal in the remaining 3 patients (age, 44.3±9.5 years). Ventricular fibrillation was induced by programmed ventricular stimulation with up to 3 extrastimuli from the right ventricular apex or outflow tract in 7 of the 10 J-wave syndrome patients tested, in all 5 Brugada syndrome patients, and in all 3 patients with a normal electrocardiogram. There appears to be an increased prevalence of J-wave syndrome among patients with a history of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kimie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohkubo
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okumura
authors.forename: Masayoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kofune
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagashima
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mano
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sonoda
authors.forename: Toshiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakai
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kasamaki
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirayama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053840:Brugada Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006323:Heart Arrest; D006331:Heart Diseases; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult