Is there a relation between SIDS and long QT syndrome?

L ong QT syndrome causes sudden unexpected death through rapid ventricular tachycardia (‘‘torsades de pointes’’) leading to ventricular fibrillation (see figs 1 and 2). 2 The postmortem examination reveals no cause for the death. These characteristics make long QT syndrome a plausible cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and many research efforts have been made to investigate a possible link. The genetic forms of long QT syndrome are usually inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion (Romano-Ward syndrome). Yet gene carriers can be asymptomatic, and around a third can even have a normal ECG. Therefore the condition might theoretically cause multiple SIDS within a family, with apparently healthy parents. It has been suggested that parents in such families might have been wrongfully accused of murder. 5