Long-term prognosis in patients with Brugada syndrome based on Class II indication for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator in the HRS/EHRA/APHRS Expert Consensus Statement: multicenter study in Japan

Abstract

Background: The HRS/EHRA/APHRS Expert Consensus Statement for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in Brugada syndrome (BrS) has recently been published. However, the validity of the Class II indication for ICD in BrS patients is still unknown.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of the Class II indication for ICD implantation in the Consensus Statement with a large Japanese cohort of BrS.

Methods: Among 410 patients with BrS, a total of 213 consecutive BrS patients with the Class II indication for ICD implantation (mean age 53 ± 14 years, 199 men) were enrolled. Clinical outcomes were compared between patients with Class IIa (n = 66) and those with Class IIb (n = 147) indication according to the Consensus Statement.

Results: The incidence of cardiac events (documented ventricular tachyarrhythmias or sudden cardiac death) during follow-up of 62 ± 34 months was significantly higher in patients with Class IIa (n = 8, 2.2% per year) than those with Class IIb indication (n = 4, 0.5% per year; P = .01).

Conclusion: We confirmed that Class IIa indication identified a group of patients with increased risk compared to Class IIb indication for ICD in the Consensus Statement of 2013. In patients with Class II indication, the combination of a history of syncope and spontaneous type 1 ECG may be an important factor in distinguishing intermediate- from low-risk patients with BrS in Japan.

Keywords: Brugada syndrome; Class II indication; HRS/EHRA/APHRS Expert Consensus Recommendation; Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator; Prognosis.