Is the value of QT dispersion a valid method to foresee the risk of sudden death? A study in Becker patients.

Sudden cardiac death is a dramatic, undesirable event that can often result from cardiomyopathies. To investigate the validity of the QTdispersion (QTd) in revealing regional heterogeneity of repolarisation, with consequent possibility of sudden death, we evaluated ECGs of patients affected by Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). This is an X linked recessive muscular dystrophy caused by dystrophin anomalies in striated muscles with myocardial involvement and consequent dilated cardiomyopathy, ventricular arrhythmias and, in 30% of cases, sudden cardiac death. 6