COVID-19 Infection Unmasking Brugada Syndrome

Abstract

First described in the 1990s, the Brugada syndrome initially characterized unexplained sudden cardiac death in healthy Southeast Asian men.1 Mutations in the cardiac sodium channel were later identified in the SCN5A and SCN10A genes, accounting for nearly 50% of the cases.2,3 Brugada syndrome phenotype is associated with decrease in the sodium current owing to reduction in sodium channels and/or reduction of function of the sodium channels. Although the reduction in the sodium current manifests with characteristic electrocardiographic abnormalities, patients with the Brugada syndrome are often healthy and unaware of their genetic predisposition.