Ventricular Dysrhythmias During Long-Term Follow-Up in Patients With Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia

Reports on development of frequent ventricular premature complexes (fVPC), (non)sustained ventricular tachycardias ([n]sVT), or ventricular fibrillation (VF) and their interrelationship in patients with different inherited cardiac arrhythmia (ICA) have sofar not been reported.
The aim of this study is therefore to examine incidences and recurrences rates of sVT and VF (“malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias, VTA”) in addition to the incidence of fVPC and nsVT (“ventricular dysrhythmias, VDR”) in patients with various ICA during long-term follow up. Patients with ICA including definite/borderline arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, Brugada syndrome, catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, long QT syndrome or short QT syndrome who had frequent 24-hour Holter monitoring during a follow-up period of 4.6 § 4.4 years. During the initial screening visit, 15 patients had a history of malignant VTA. fVPC and nsVT was observed in respectively 19% and 13% of all patients. Compared with the ARVC group, patients with BrS and LQTS had less frequent fVPC and nsVT. The recurrence rate of malignant VTA was 33%.
In conclusion, variety of VDR and malignant VTA were found during long-term followup in patients with ICA. During nearly a 5 years follow-up period, the recurrence rate of malignant VTA was considerable. fVPC, nsVT, and malignant VTA were most often found in patients with an ARVC.