Newly-Discovered Genes That Could Be Lethal

Medtronic’s recent findings about genetic markers that may lead to sudden cardiac death could help physicians better determine who is at risk for this.

Sudden cardiac death can be caused by an abnormal heart rhythm, a congenital heart defect or a thick heart muscle. About 250,000 a year will have a sudden cardiac death, said Erik Altman, MD, chief of electrophysiology of cardiology at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore.

Cardiologists look for certain markers that someone may be at high risk of sudden cardiac death, including what is known as ejection fraction -- how well your heart is pumping blood to the rest of the body.

Defibrillator implantation is encouraged in those patients to try to prevent sudden cardiac death, Dr. Altman explained.

“The ability to link a genetic marker to sudden cardiac death is a very important finding,” Dr. Altman said. “We know that ejection fraction is likely not the only predictive feature of sudden cardiac death since there are a host of patients with reduced ejection fractions who do not experience sudden cardiac death. This may allow us to further define what we consider a high risk patient group that could truly benefit from defibrillators.”

Cardiac defibrillators are similar to pacemakers and are implanted under a person’s skin near their shoulder. These devices can zap the heart to return someone’s heart rate back to normal.

For more information about sudden cardiac death, click here.