Comparison of late potentials for 24 hours between Brugada syndrome and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy using a novel signal-averaging system based on Holter ECG.

BACKGROUND Late potentials (LP) detected with signal-averaged ECGs are known to be useful in identifying patients at risk of Brugada syndrome (BS) and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Because the pathophysiology is clearly different between these disorders, we clarified the LP characteristics of these disorders. METHODS AND RESULTS This study included 15 BS and 12 ARVC patients and 20 healthy controls. All BS patients had characteristic ECG changes and symptomatic episodes. All ARVC patients had findings that were consistent with recent criteria. Three LP parameters (filtered QRS duration, root mean square voltage of the terminal 40 ms of the filtered QRS complex, and duration of low-amplitude signals [<40 µV] in the terminal, filtered QRS complex) were continuously measured for 24 hours using a novel Holter-based signal-averaged ECG system. The incidences of LP determination in BS (80%) and ARVC (91%) patients were higher than in healthy controls (5%; P<0.0001 in both) but did not differ between BS and ARVC patients. In BS patients, the dynamic changes of all LP parameters were observed, and they were pronounced at nighttime. On the contrary, these findings were not observed in ARVC patients. When the SD values of the 3 LP parameters (filtered QRS duration, root mean square voltage of the terminal 40 ms of the filtered QRS complex, and duration of low-amplitude signals [<40 µV] in the terminal, filtered QRS complex) over 24 hours were compared for the 2 patient groups, those values in BS patients were significantly greater than those in ARVC patients (P<0.0001 in all). CONCLUSIONS LP characteristics detected by the Holter-based signal-averaged ECG system over 24 hours differ between BS and ARVC patients. Dynamic daily variations of LPs were seen only in BS patients. This may imply that mechanisms of lethal ventricular arrhythmia in BS may be more correlated with autonomic abnormality than that of ARVC.