Diagnosis of Brugada Syndrome

Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is considered to be the main therapy for prevention of sudden cardiac death in patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS). However, there have been several reports suggesting a higher prevalence of complications, such as inappropriate shocks, lead failure, and device infection compared with the incidence of lethal ventricular arrhythmia. BrS is mainly diagnosed ≈40 years of age in men, and sudden death is likely to be eliminated after ICD implantation. Meanwhile, the clinical characteristics and prognosis of elderly patients with BrS are largely unknown, and there are no reports on the incidence of ventricular fibrillation (VF) or the evaluations of the necessity for ICD in elderly patients. Provided that BrS is caused by depolarization abnormality, ventricular arrhythmias may conceivably increase with age. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of appropriate shocks and ICD complications in patients with BrS during long-term follow-up after ICD implantation and to assess the risk and benefit of ICD implantation in elderly patients with BrS. Methods