Brugada Syndrome: A Review of Peri-operative Management for the Anesthesiologist

It is important for the anesthesiologist to be familiar with Brugada syndrome (BS) since known and unknown BS patients may present for surgery. BS accounts for four percent of all sudden deaths and up to twenty percent of sudden deaths in patients without structural cardiac defects [1]. Proper identification of BS is important as the two year mortality approaches 30 percent [2]. Review of the literature reveals a series of case reports detailing a variety of methods of administering a successful anesthetic to BS patients including general, sedation, and regional anesthesia [3]. Nevertheless, there are certain guidelines to follow intraoperatively in order to minimize the risk of adverse cardiac events.