(Circulation. 2000;102:945.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Brief Rapid Communications |
From the Department of Molecular Cardiology (S.G.P., C.N., E.R.), Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy, and the Department of Cardiology (S.G.P., C.N., P.J.S., R.B., L.C.), University of Pavia and Policlinico S. Matteo, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Pavia, Italy.
Correspondence to Silvia G. Priori, MD, PhD, Director of Molecular Cardiology, Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri, Via Ferrata 8, 27100 Pavia, Italy. E-mail spriori{at}fsm.it
| Abstract |
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Methods and ResultsWe tested the possibility that in some LQT3
patients, flecainide might not only shorten the QT interval, but also
produce an elevation of the ST segment. A total of 13 patients from 7
LQT3 families received intravenous flecainide using the
protocol used for BS. As expected, QT, QTc, JT, and JTc interval
shortening was observed in 12 of the 13 patients, and concomitant ST
segment elevation in leads V1 through V3 (
2 mm) was observed in
6 of the 13.
ConclusionsThe data demonstrate that flecainide may induce ST segment elevation in LQT3 patients, raising concerns about the safety of flecainide therapy and demonstrating the existence of an intriguing overlap between LQT3 and BS.
Key Words: long-QT syndrome Brugada syndrome arrhythmia drugs
| Introduction |
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Intravenous flecainide, a sodium channel blocker, is widely used as a provocative test to unmask the ECG phenotype of BS and, as such, is regarded as highly specific for the disease.4 Oral flecainide has shortened the QT interval in a few LQT3 patients,5 leading to the suggestion of using it as a specific long-term treatment for LQT3. If these seemingly differential responses of LQT3 and BS patients to flecainide are indeed specific, then this drug might represent a tool to better distinguish the 2 diseases.
In 13 LQT3 patients who carry 7 different mutations, we evaluated the response to intravenous flecainide and found that flecainide elicited the ECG pattern typical for BS in 6 of the 13. This finding raises concerns about the safety of flecainide therapy in long-QT syndrome patients and demonstrates the existence of an intriguing overlap between the 2 diseases.
| Methods |
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Flecainide was administered intravenously at a dose of 2 mg/kg over 10 minutes. A standard 12-lead ECG was continuously monitored during the test and for the following 30 minutes.
Molecular Screening
Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood
lymphocytes by standard techniques. The region of SCN5A
encoding the cardiac sodium channel
-subunit was screened using
single-strand conformation polymorphism on polymerase chain
reactionamplified genomic DNA samples. The abnormal conformers were
directly sequenced using an ABI310 genetic analyzer or were
cloned (TopoTA cloning, Invitrogen) and sequenced using
plasmid-specific oligonucleotides. Shifts in
single-strand conformation polymorphism were also checked against a
panel of genomic DNA from 300 healthy reference individuals (600
chromosomes). In all patients, the presence of a second mutation in the
remaining long-QT syndromerelated genes was excluded by molecular
analysis.
Statistical Analysis
Data are expressed as mean±SD. Statistical analysis was
performed using the SPSS statistical package. A paired t
test was used for the evaluation of changes in ECG
parameters before and after flecainide; significance was
accepted for P<0.05. Linear regression analysis was
used to assess the correlation between variables.
| Results |
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KPQ 1505 to 1507 (n=1), E1784K (n=3), V411M
(n=1),
K1500 (n=5), R1626P (n=1), T1304M (n=1), and P2006A
(n=1).
Flecainide administration significantly prolonged the PQ interval (from
164±23 to 186±22 ms; P<0.001), widened the QRS interval
(from 104±25 to 126±24 ms; P<0.001), and shortened the QT
(from 502±45 to 460±30 ms; P<0.0001), QTc (from 504±39
to 473±28 ms; P<0.01), JT (from 397±54 to 334±34 ms;
P<0.001) and JTc intervals (from 399±51 to 347±29 ms;
P<0.001; Figure 1
). The RR
interval was slightly but consistently reduced in all patients
(from 981 to 931 ms; P<0.05). The mean percent reduction of
JTc (JTc
%) was 12.4%
(range, 2% to 20%). The patient with no change in
JTc
% was the patient
with a normal QT interval at baseline. Only a modest correlation was
present between JTc at baseline and the
JTc
% reduction after
flecainide (r2=0.58). No correlation was observed
between JTc
% and RR
shortening (r2=0.036) or between
JTc
% and QRS widening
(r2=0.034).
|
ST segment elevation in leads V1 through V3 (
2 mm) after
flecainide occurred in 6 of the 13 patients; these 6 patients had trend
toward a shorter baseline QTc and JTc compared with patients without ST
segment elevation (JTc, 372±26 versus 424±56; P=0.006). No
difference in the shortening of QT, QTc, JT, JTc, or
JTc
% after flecainide
was observed between the patients with (n=6) and without (n=7) ST
segment elevation. ST segment elevation occurred in a similar
percentage of symptomatic and asymptomatic
patients.
Two of the 7 mutations (
KPQ 1505 to 1507, E1784K) have been
expressed in heterologous systems and are associated with the delayed
fast inactivation of the sodium current.7 8 The
development of ST segment elevation seemed unrelated to the specific
mutations and to their electrophysiological
effects. Not all patients with the same genetic defect had a concordant
response to the flecainide test. Specifically, in a family with 3
carriers of the E1784K defect (baseline QTc of 496, 510, and 520 ms),
QT shortening was observed in all patients, but only one developed
marked ST segment elevation (Figure 2
).
|
The patient with a normal QTc interval at baseline (Figure 1
) is
a carrier of the T1304M mutation that has been described in association
with the LQT3 phenotype9 ; he did not develop ST
segment elevation after flecainide.
In one patient with a familial form of LQT3 in whom flecainide induced QT shortening and ST segment elevation, an analysis of ECGs recorded 30 years earlier revealed that twice he presented with spontaneous ST segment elevation.
| Discussion |
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Ajmaline and flecainide administration was proposed by Brugada et al4 as a diagnostic test for the identification of concealed forms of BS. Accordingly, individuals with mild ST segment elevation and their family members are exposed to this provocative test and diagnosed as "affected" by BS whenever a 1-mm ST segment elevation occurs.4 We recently questioned the sensitivity of the flecainide test when we identified family members of BS probands who carried the genetic defect but failed to manifest ST segment elevation during pharmacological challenge (unpublished data). Data reported here show that flecainide administration may also induce ST segment elevation in leads V1 through V3 in LQT3 patients.
The rationale for using sodium channel blockers in LQT3 is based on the
experimental evidence that mexiletine reduces the action potential
prolongation produced by delayed inactivation of the sodium
current10 and the persistent inward current associated
with 3 mutations (
KPQ, R1644H, and N1325S).7 Indeed,
acute oral testing with mexiletine shortened the QT interval in LQT3
patients.11
Recently, Benhorin et al5 reported that oral flecainide significantly shortened the QT interval in 8 asymptomatic members of one LQT3 family; intravenous administration of the drug was not done, and patients were placed on long-term treatment, with persistence of the QT interval shortening over time. Benhorin et al5 conclude by saying that the response to flecainide could be either gene-specific or mutation-specific. In fact, the picture could be even more complex: our data raise the possibility that it may be "individual specific." In one family, all 3 affected members with marked QT interval prolongation had QT shortening with flecainide; however, the one with the more modest shortening (32 ms versus 58 and 64 ms) also developed ST segment elevation. Like the puzzling issue of incomplete penetrance, with some family members carrying the mutation but not manifesting QT prolongation,12 13 it may also be true that the response to sodium channel blockade shows individual variability or that it lacks reproducibility within the same patient. This raises uncertainties about the negative predictive value of the lack of ST segment elevation after the intravenous administration of flecainide and questions the overall safety of long-term treatment with flecainide in LQT3.
These findings prompt 2 considerations relevant to clinical practice. (1) The similar response of LQT3 and BS patients to flecainide challenge, combined with the common clinical features of the 2 diseases (suspected or certain lack of therapeutic efficacy of ß-blockers,14 high lethality of cardiac events,14 and arrhythmias occurring at rest or sleep15 ), demonstrates that the phenotypic overlapping of LQT3 and BS is larger than commonly appreciated. (2) The evidence that flecainide may provoke ST segment elevation calls for caution in initiating long-term flecainide treatment in LQT3 patients.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received May 2, 2000; revision received July 5, 2000; accepted July 12, 2000.
| References |
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