Familial cardiological and targeted genetic evaluation: low yield in sudden unexplained death and high yield in unexplained cardiac arrest syndromes.

BACKGROUND

It has been reported that cardiological screening and genetic evaluation in relatives of families with sudden unexplained death syndrome and unexplained cardiac arrest (UCA) may uncover a heritable etiology in a significant proportion of families.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the yield of a comprehensive evaluation protocol of a large unselected cohort of consecutive families with autopsy-negative sudden unexplained death syndrome (termed sudden arrhythmic death syndrome [SADS]) and UCA.

METHODS

We studied (1) 109 consecutive families (411 relatives) referred with 1 or more sudden deaths in the family and (2) 52 consecutive probands with UCA (91 relatives) referred by cardiologists between January 2007 and December 2012. A comprehensive cardiological screening was performed followed by targeted genetic evaluation if a clinical phenotype was proven or suspected. Diagnosis was made by a multidisciplinary team using published clinical criteria.

RESULTS

A diagnosis was made in 19 of 109 families with SADS (yield 18%), with the majority having long QT syndrome (LQTS). Diagnosis varied according to proband age, with LQTS most common in the very young (≤20 years) and Brugada syndrome in the older age probands (≥40 years) (P = .03). In contrast, a diagnosis was made in 32 of 52 families with UCA (yield 62%), the majority of which had LQTS and Brugada syndrome. No clinical or circumstantial factors increased the likelihood of diagnosis in families with either SADS or UCA.

CONCLUSIONS

In contrast to previously published series, a comprehensive strategy of cardiological evaluation and targeted genetic testing in more than 100 families with SADS was found to have a lower diagnostic yield (18%). Diagnostic yield in families with UCA was approximately 4 times higher (62%), which is consistent with the published literature.