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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffBrugada syndrome is a heart rhythm disorder. Each beat of your heart is triggered by an electrical impulse generated by special cells in the right upper chamber of your heart. Tiny pores, called channels, on each of these cells direct this electrical activity, which makes your heart beat. In Brugada syndrome, a defect in these channels can cause your heart to beat abnormally.
During these episodes, your heart doesn't pump effectively. As a result, not enough blood travels to the rest of your body. This can cause fainting, other heart rhythm disorders, or in extreme cases, sudden cardiac death.
Brugada syndrome is usually inherited, but it may also result from a structural abnormality in your heart, imbalances in chemicals that help transmit electrical signals through your body (electrolytes), or the effects of certain prescription medications or cocaine use.
Brugada syndrome is usually diagnosed in adolescents and adults. It's rarely diagnosed in young children.
- Wylie JV, et al. Brugada syndrome and sudden cardiac arrest. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 24, 2008.
- Benito B, et al. Brugada syndrome. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. 2008;51:1.
- Benito B, et al. Gender differences in clinical manifestations of Brugada syndrome. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2008;52:1567.
- Antzelevitch C, et al. Brugada syndrome: Recent advances and controversies. Current Cardiology Reports. 2008;10:376.
- The Brugada syndrome. Ramon Brugada Senior Foundation. http://www.brugada.org/about/about.html. Accessed April 14, 2009.
