Brugada Syndrome, 30 years of continous progress. Seminar with Josep Brugada

The Brugada syndrome is an inherited disorder associated with risk of ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death in a structurally normal heart. Diagnosis is based on a characteristic electrocardiographic pattern (coved type ST-segment elevation≥2mm followed by a negative Twave in ≥1 of the right precordial leads V1-V2), observed either spontaneously or during a sodium channel blocker test. The prevalence varies among regions and ethnicities, affecting mostly males and can be responsible of a significant percentage of patients suffering from sudden cardiac death in a structurally normal heart. The risk stratification and management of patients, principally asymptomatic, still remains challenging. The current main therapy is an implantable cardiac defibrillator but radiofrequency catheter ablation has been recently reported as an effective new treatment. Since its first description in 1992, continuous achievements have expanded our understanding of the epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnostic criteria, genetic basis, electrophysiological mechanisms, prognostic implications, risk stratification and treatment of the disease.

Biography

Josep Brugada is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Pediatric Arrhythmia Unit at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona. Numerous prices and awards have highlighted Professor Brugada’s career including the Fritz– Acker Prize to Scientific Research of the German Society of Cardiology, the Josep Trueta Award of the Academy for Medical Sciences of the Catalan Society of Medicine, for the discovery and description, along with his brothers, of the “Brugada syndrome”. He was also the first foreign cardiologist to win the Young Investigator Award of the American College of Cardiology and the first foreigner “runner-up” for the Young Investigator Award of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. He holds the Doctor Honoris Causa degree by several Universities. Present positions include Past-President of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) and past Vice President of the Spanish Society of Cardiology.