Sudden death (SD) is a tragic event and a world-wide health problem. Every year, near 4-5 million people experience SD. SD is defined as the death occurred in 1h after the onset of symptoms in a person without previous signs of fatality. It can be named "recovered SD" when the case received medical attention, cardiac reanimation effective defibrillation or both, surviving the fatal arrhythmia. Cardiac channelopathies are a group of diseases characterized by abnormal ion channel function due to genetic mutations in ion channel genes, providing increased susceptibility to develop cardiac arrhythmias and SD. Usually the death occurs before 40 years of age and in the autopsy the heart is normal. In this review we discuss the main cardiac channelopathies involved in sudden cardiac death along with current management of cases and family members that have experienced such tragic event.
Keywords: Brugada syndrome; Canalopatías arritmogénicas; Cardiac channelopathies; Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia; Long QT syndrome; Mexico; Muerte súbita; México; Sudden death; Síndrome de Brugada; Síndrome de QT Largo; Taquicardia ventricular polimorfa catecolaminérgica.
Copyright © 2014 Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez. Published by Masson Doyma México S.A. All rights reserved.