Brugada syndrome. Physiopathological, clinical aspects and their association with infectious diseases

Abstract

Brugada syndrome (BrS) is a non-structural cardiac disease that affects cardiac ion channels; it is characterized by clinical manifestations such as arrhythmias, tachycardia, syncope and sudden death, among others. Its diagnosis is mainly electrocardiographic, with a highly suggestive but not pathognomonic pattern, thus, there could be differential diagnoses from the electrocardiographic point of view. There are three electrocardiographic patterns in patients with BrS, of which type I is the most characteristic pattern. Currently, multiple genes have been linked to the presentation of this syndrome, among which the SCN5A gene is the most described in the literature. It is known that this syndrome is more frequent in males; however, there are not epidemiological studies in Latin America to confirm it. Although research around the causal mechanisms of the syndrome has advanced, there are several unresolved issues, for example, its masking by the signs produced for some infectious diseases caused mainly by viruses. Therefore, given the clinical relevance of the topic, for the medical general practitioner and the specialist, the objective of this review is to describe not only the physiopathological and clinical aspects of the disease, but also to highlight cases of patients with infectious diseases, who subsequently have been diagnosed with Brugada syndrome.