title: Tpeak-Tend interval and Tpeak-Tend/QT ratio in patients with Brugada syndrome.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Brugada syndrome (BrS) is characterized by a typical electrocardiogram (ECG) pattern in right precordial leads (V1-V3; so-called type 1 ECG) and an increased risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation. Annual cardiac event rates vary from 0.5% in asymptomatic to 7.7% in high-risk patients. So far, spontaneous occurrence of the type 1 ECG, survived cardiac arrest, and/or documented ventricular arrhythmias are main risk predictors, whereas other factors (e.g. family history or genotype) are not applicable for risk stratification. In this study, we investigated the relationship between Tpeak-Tendintervals (TpTe) as a novel ECG parameter for the occurrence of cardiac arrhythmias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Clinical and genetic data of 78 unrelated BrS patients (male: n = 57, age: 45 ± 14 years) were retrospectively analysed for medical history, gene mutation, and ECG parameters (in particular heart rate, PQ, QRS, QT, and TpTe) as obtained after digital measurements. TpTe in ECG lead V1 (87 ± 30 vs. 71 ± 27 ms; P = 0.017) and the TpTe/QT ratio (0.24 vs. 0.19; P = 0.018) were significantly higher in high-risk BrS patients than in other BrS patients. In the other right precordial leads typically indicative for BrS, no significant difference was noted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Assessment of the TpTe interval or the TpTe/QT ratio in lead V1 is potentially useful as a non-invasive risk marker for BrS patients with life-threatening arrhythmias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Institute for Genetics of Heart Diseases (IfGH), University Hospital Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebäude D3, D-48149 Münster, Germany sven.zumhagen@ukmuenster.de.|Division of Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zumhagen
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Zeidler
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Institute for Genetics of Heart Diseases (IfGH), University Hospital Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebäude D3, D-48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stallmeyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Institute for Genetics of Heart Diseases (IfGH), University Hospital Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebäude D3, D-48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ernsting
authors.affiliation: Division of Electrophysiology, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Eckardt
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Institute for Genetics of Heart Diseases (IfGH), University Hospital Münster, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, Gebäude D3, D-48149 Münster, Germany.|Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF), University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schulze-Bahr
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053840:Brugada Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062554:NAV1.5 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel / Q000235:genetics; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D062554:NAV1.5 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel; C568320:SCN5A protein, human
keywords: Brugada syndrome; ECG parameters; Non-invasive risk stratification; Tpeak–Tend interval; Tpeak–Tend/QT ratio