Prevalence of prominent J waves in patients presenting with ventricular fibrillation without structural heart...

Association between sudden cardiac arrest and early repolarization (QRS slurring in the inferolateral leads) has drawn recent attention. We retrospectively assessed the prevalence of electrocardiographic J waves in 19 men aged 46.5±13.7 years who, between 1979 and 2011, were resuscitated after cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. There was no structural heart disease in this group. The J wave is an elevation of the QRS-ST junction of at least 0.1mV from baseline in the inferior or lateral leads, manifested as QRS slurring or notching. Eleven patients (age, 37.3±13.9 years) showed J waves in the inferior leads (n=8) or in both the inferior and lateral leads (n=3). Brugada syndrome was diagnosed in 5 patients (age, 46.4±15.7 years). The QRS complex was normal in the remaining 3 patients (age, 44.3±9.5 years). Ventricular fibrillation was induced by programmed ventricular stimulation with up to 3 extrastimuli from the right ventricular apex or outflow tract in 7 of the 10 J-wave syndrome patients tested, in all 5 Brugada syndrome patients, and in all 3 patients with a normal electrocardiogram. There appears to be an increased prevalence of J-wave syndrome among patients with a history of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation.