Relevance of molecular testing in patients with a family history of sudden death

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) as defined by the World Health Organization, takes place during the first hour after the onset of symptoms in patients with known or unknown cardiac diseases [1]. SCD is a leading cause of death in industrial countries with an incidence of 18.6-126/100,000 per year. For the German State Lower Saxonia, an incidence rate of 81/100,000 was recently established [2]. It is generally accepted that coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction are the most common cardiac pathologies underlying SCD in elderly people, whereas in the younger population, a considerable proportion of SCD can be attributed to hereditary structural cardiac abnormalities such as hypertrophic/dilated cardiomyopathy (HCM/DCM) and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC).

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