Publications by authors named "Gudrun Pappaert"

Article Synopsis
  • Brugada syndrome (BrS) is linked to dangerous heart rhythms called ventricular fibrillation (VF), and this study explores VF mapping using ECG imaging to understand the relationship between different VF mechanisms.* -
  • The researchers focused on patients diagnosed with BrS who experienced VF during a specific heart procedure, analyzing various heart rhythm maps to identify spatial correlations between repolarization gradients and VF triggers.* -
  • Results showed that most BrS patients had distinct "repolarization cliffs" that initiated VF, suggesting these cliffs could be important targets for treatment to prevent VF recurrence.*
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Article Synopsis
  • Brugada syndrome (BrS) is linked to sudden cardiac death, with drug-induced cases making up a significant portion, and this study focuses on developing a deep learning model called BrS-Net to recognize and predict BrS diagnosis.
  • The research included 1,188 patients undergoing ajmaline testing, showing that BrS-Net effectively identified a BrS type I pattern during ajmaline with high accuracy (AUC-ROC of 0.945) and had moderate prediction accuracy from baseline ECG (AUC-ROC of 0.805).
  • The study concludes that BrS-Net demonstrates strong performance in both recognizing and predicting BrS type I patterns, presenting a potential tool for monitoring at-risk populations.
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Article Synopsis
  • - The study examined 500 patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS) to evaluate the genetic variants' presence and their relation to prognosis, discovering that about 20.8% had pathogenic variants in the SCN5A gene, which indicate a worse outcome.
  • - Of the patients analyzed, 75 were found to have a gene variant, with the majority being missense variants; however, those without any genetic variants showed better protection against ventricular arrhythmias (VA).
  • - The findings concluded that carrying a predicted loss of function variant—either in the SCN5A gene or other related genes—was a significant factor in predicting the likelihood of experiencing VA.
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Aims: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a hereditary arrhythmic disease, associated with sudden cardiac death. To date, little is known about the psychosocial correlates and impacts associated with this disease. The aim of this study was to assess a set of patient-reported psychosocial outcomes, to better profile these patients, and to propose a tailored psychosocial care.

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Background: Patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS) have an increased risk of arrhythmias, including atrial tachyarrhythmias (ATas).

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess underlying atrial cardiomyopathy in BrS and the effect of ajmaline (AJM) test on the atrium of BrS patients using electrocardiogram imaging (ECGI).

Methods: All consecutive patients diagnosed with BrS in a monocentric registry were screened and included if they met the following criteria: 1) BrS diagnosed following current recommendations; and 2) ECGI map performed before and after AJM with a standard protocol.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and outcomes of SCN5A gene testing in pediatric patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS) compared to adults, focusing on the presence of pathogenic variants.
  • The research included 500 patients diagnosed with BrS over 30 years, revealing that 46% of the children tested positive for pathogenic variants, which was associated with a higher risk of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs).
  • Ultimately, the study concluded that while 46% of pediatric patients have pathogenic variants, those who did showed a worse prognosis for arrhythmias compared to those without, with similar outcomes for both pediatric and adult patients regardless of their variant status.
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Purpose: Drug-induced type I Brugada syndrome (BrS) is associated with a ventricular arrhythmia (VA) rate of 1 case per 100 person-years. This study aims to evaluate changes in electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters such as microvolt T wave alternans (mTWA) and heart rate variability (HRV) at baseline and during ajmaline testing for BrS diagnosis.

Methods: Consecutive patients diagnosed with BrS during ajmaline testing with 5-year follow-up were included in this study.

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Myotonia congenita is a rare neuromuscular disorder caused by mutations resulting in delayed muscle relaxation. Extramuscular manifestations are not considered to be present in chloride skeletal channelopathies, although recently some cardiac manifestations have been described. We report a family with autosomal dominant myotonia congenita and Brugada syndrome.

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Management of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) beyond implantable cardioverter-defibrillator positioning in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is challenging. Catheter ablation of the ventricular substrate often requires a combination of endocardial and epicardial approaches, with disappointing outcomes due to the progressive nature of the disease. We report the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel experience through a case series of 16 patients with drug-refractory ARVC, who have undergone endocardial and/or epicardial catheter ablation of VAs with a thoracoscopic hybrid-approach.

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Background: Brugada syndrome (BrS) is caused by mutations in SCN5A gene in 15%-20% of cases. Previous studies showed worse prognosis in SCN5A mutation carriers (SCN5A+). To date, there are no data on genotype-phenotype correlation with electrocardiographic (ECG) imaging (ECGI) and high-density epicardial electroanatomic map.

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Background The rate of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in Brugada syndrome (BrS) is ≈1%/y. Noninvasive electrocardiographic imaging is a noninvasive mapping system that has a role in assessing BrS depolarization and repolarization abnormalities. This study aimed to analyze electrocardiographic imaging parameters during ajmaline test (AJT).

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Background: The pathogenesis of Brugada syndrome (BrS) and consequently of abnormal electrograms (aEGMs) found in the epicardium of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT-EPI) is controversial.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze aEGM from high-density RVOT-EPI electroanatomic mapping (EAM).

Methods: All patients undergoing RVOT-EPI EAM with the HD-Grid catheter for BrS were retrospectively included.

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Brugada syndrome (BrS) diagnosis requires the presence of a typical type 1 ECG pattern. Owing to the spontaneous ECG variability, the real BrS prevalence in the general population remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of positive ajmaline challenge for BrS in a cohort of consecutive patients who underwent electrophysiological evaluation for different clinical reasons.

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Background: The present study sought to evaluate the incidence of cerebrovascular events in a large cohort of patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS) analysing possible predictors, clinical characteristics and prognosis of cardioembolic events secondary to atrial fibrillation.

Methods: A total of 671 consecutive patients (age 42.1 ± 17.

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Background: Young patients presenting with symptomatic Brugada syndrome have very high risks for ventricular arrhythmias and should be carefully considered for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) placement. However, this therapy is associated with high rates of inappropriate shocks and device-related complications.

Objectives: This study investigated clinical features, management, and long-term follow-up of young patients with Brugada syndrome and ICD.

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Some previous studies have proposed the electrocardiographic Tpeak-Tend (TpTe) as a possible predictor of ventricular arrhythmic events in patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS). We sought to analyze the association between the parameters of repolarization dispersion (TpTe, TpTe/QT, TpTe dispersion, QTc, and QTd) and ventricular fibrillation/sudden cardiac death in a large cohort of patients with type 1 BrS. A total of 448 consecutive patients with BrS (men 61%, age 45 ± 16 years) with spontaneous (n = 96, 21%) or drug-induced (n = 352, 79%) type 1 electrocardiogram were retrospectively included.

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Risk stratification in Brugada syndrome in young patients remains challenging. We investigated the clinical characteristics, prognosis, and risk in young patients with the Brugada syndrome. We studied 95 patients with the Brugada syndrome aged ≤19 years.

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Background: Patients with drug-induced Brugada syndrome (BS) are considered at a lower risk than those with a spontaneous type I pattern. Nevertheless, they can present arrhythmic events.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate their clinical characteristics, long-term prognosis and risk factors.

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Aims: Risk stratification in Brugada Syndrome (BS) remains challenging. Arrhythmic events can occur life-long and studies with long follow-ups are sparse. The aim of our study was to investigate long-term prognosis and risk stratification of BS patients.

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This study analyzes the natural history of a large cohort of probands with Brugada syndrome (BrS) to assess the predictive value of different clinical and electrocardiographic parameters for the development of ventricular fibrillation (VF) or sudden cardiac death (SCD) during a long-term follow-up. Baseline characteristics of 289 consecutive probands (203 men; mean age 45 ± 16 years) with a Brugada type 1 electrocardiogram were analyzed. After a mean follow-up of 10.

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Aims: To investigate the clinical characteristics, prognoses, and presence of risk factors in young patients with Brugada syndrome (BS).

Methods And Results: A consecutive cohort of 128 young BS patients (≤25 years old at diagnosis) was analysed. Eighty-eight patients (69%) were asymptomatic, whereas 40 (31%) presented with clinical manifestations of BS.

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Background: The phenotypic heterogeneity of Brugada syndrome (BrS) can lead some patients to show an additional inferolateral early repolarization pattern (ERP), or fragmented QRS (f-QRS). The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical impact of f-QRS, ERP or combined f-QRS/ERP in high-risk patients with BrS.

Methods and results: Patients with spontaneous or drug-induced BrS and an indication to receive an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) were considered eligible for this study.

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Background: A proband of Brugada syndrome (BrS) is the first patient diagnosed in a family. There are no data regarding this specific, high-risk population.

Objectives: This study sought to investigate the Brugada probands diagnosed from 1986 through the next 28 years.

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Objectives: Brugada syndrome (BS) in women is considered an infrequent condition with a more favourable prognosis than in men. Nevertheless, arrhythmic events and sudden cardiac death (SCD) also occur in this population. Long-term follow-up data of this group are sparse.

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