What's Brugada syndrome?
Brugada syndrome is a rare heart-rhythm disorder caused by faulty electrical channels (a channelopathy) in heart-muscle cells. It raises the risk of dangerous fast rhythms in the heart's main pumping chambers and of sudden cardiac death.
| Also indexed as | ORPHA:130, MONDO:0015263 |
|---|---|
| Features mapped | 6 |
| Treatments mapped | 1 |
| Published sources | 7 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-08-04 |
Signs and symptoms
Syncope
Fainting, known as syncope, is one of the most common ways Brugada syndrome first makes itself known. In one group of people diagnosed with the condition, about four in ten had had a fainting episode.
Ventricular fibrillation
Ventricular fibrillation is a chaotic, ineffective quivering of the heart's main pumping chambers. It is the main reason Brugada syndrome can lead to sudden cardiac death in people who otherwise appear healthy.
Supraventricular tachycardia
Supraventricular tachycardia is a fast heart rhythm starting above the heart's main pumping chambers. It has been reported during follow-up in a small number of people with Brugada syndrome.
ST segment elevation
The Brugada ECG pattern is a coved-shaped lift of the ST segment in the leads that sit over the right side of the heart. This Type 1 pattern is the electrical signature of the condition.
Ventricular arrhythmia
Brugada syndrome is a rare channelopathy, meaning a condition of the channels that carry electrical signals in heart cells. It is linked to a raised risk of ventricular arrhythmias, which are dangerous fast rhythms in the heart's main pumping chambers, and of sudden cardiac death.
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, when the heart abruptly stops pumping, can be the event that first reveals Brugada syndrome. In one group of people diagnosed with the condition, close to three in ten had had a cardiac arrest.
Treatment and management
What the research describes, not a recommendation. Treatment decisions belong with your clinician.
This covers treatments that appear in the published research mapped here. Investigational and experimental therapies are not included, so their absence is a boundary of this map, not a sign they do not exist.
implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD)
An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is a device placed in the body that detects and stops a life-threatening heart rhythm. People who have survived cardiac arrest or had documented ventricular fibrillation are clear candidates for one.
Used to help with: Ventricular fibrillation.
“While survivors of cardiac arrest and patients with documented ventricular fibrillation (VF) are clear candidates for implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), predicting risk in asymptomatic or intermediate-risk individuals is less straightforward.”
How to read the evidence labels
Where this comes from
This guide is built from 7 published source(s). Every claim above links back to one of them. Click any source ID to read the original on PubMed.
Take it further
Printed, source-linked documents built from this condition's graph — ready to bring to an appointment or attach to a coverage request. Every claim carries its published source, the same as this guide.