[Genetic testing of patients with cardiomyopathies, the resuscitated and victims of sudden death--new international expert recommendations].

Recent international expert group recommendations for gene tests of myocardial or conducting system diseases as well as those concerning molecular genetic investigations of persons resuscitated after cardiac arrest or victims of sudden death are summarized. Systematic examination of an index patient forms the basis for correct clinical diagnosis and is a prerequisite for successful genetic testing. The first-degree relatives of victims of unexplained sudden death should be referred to clinical assessment due to the possibility of an inherited heart disease. Genetic testing of sudden death victims should be performed more frequently than previously, but targeting of the tests must be done on the basis of clinical data.