Call for broader genetic testing after idiopathic cardiac arrest
Multi-phenotype tests can identify a cause in more than one in five arrest survivors, say Dr Julia Isbister and Professor Christopher Semsarian
Australian cardiologists are calling for wider genetic testing at specialised heart centres for survivors of idiopathic sudden cardiac arrest, saying it might reveal cases of ‘concealed cardiomyopathy’.
In their study of 36 people (mean age 37 years) who survived a sudden cardiac arrest and for whom no underlying cause had been found, eight patients (22%) were found to have a genetic anomaly after broad phenotypic genetic testing.
