Sudden cardiac death: discovery of possible cause

November 28, 2018 – Scientists have finally succeeded in identifying a possible cause of sudden cardiac death, a pathology that remains today remains a mystery.

The media started talking about the pathology after the sudden death of Davide Astori, who died suddenly on March 4 while he was retired with Fiorentina. the terrible end of the football player has sparked many questions and today scholars have finally managed to answer some of them. Indeed, an Italian study showed that there could be a specification at the root of the problem heart muscle abnormality and inflammation.

the study It was performed by the A. Gemelli Irccs Polyclinical University Foundation, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, and unveiled the origin of Brugada syndrome, which causes fatal arrhythmias. "Thanks to this work, we have also demonstrated the presence of significant alterations of the heart muscle in the majority of patients, which are the basis of electrical alterations and fatal arrhythmias," explained Antonio Oliva, expert from the Public Health Institute of the Catholic University. who coordinated the research.

"This discovery – added the scholar – in addition to important prognostic meanings, it will probably also have important therapeutic repercussions. In the United States, the efficacy of anti-inflammatory treatment with cortisone in addition to conventional treatments has already been tested to eradicate severe arrhythmias in patients with the syndrome. "

Thanks to the results of the study, published on the Internet Journal of the American College of CardiologyIn the future, doctors will be able to know who the patients are. risk of sudden cardiac death and arrhythmias.

"The revelation – explained Filippo Crea, director of the department of cardiovascular and thoracic sciences of the Polyclinic Agostino Gemelli – opens new perspectives for the identification of patients with Brugada syndrome at high risk of sudden death requiring treatment. implantation of a defibrillator ".

In the past, experts were convinced that causes Brugada syndrome (and sudden cardiac death) were gods genetic alterationsin fact, at the base of this pathology, there could be an inflammation of the heart. What makes this disease deadly is the fact that it usually occurs diagnosed in adulthood and most of the time, those affected do not know it. It affects men more than women, with an incidence of eight to ten times greater.