"Concealed cardiomyopathy" as a cause of previously unexplained sudden cardiac arrest

Genetic heart disease is a common cause of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in the young and those without an ischaemic precipitant. Identifying a cause of SCA in these patients allows for targeted care and family screening. Current guidelines recommend limited, phenotype-guided genetic testing in SCA survivors where a specific genetic condition is suspected and genetic testing is not recommended in clinically-idiopathic SCA survivors.

To investigate the diagnostic utility of broad, multi-phenotype genetic testing in clinically-idiopathic SCA survivors.

Clinically-idiopathic SCA survivors underwent analysis of genes known to be associated with either cardiomyopathy or primary arrhythmia syndromes, following referral to a specialised genetic heart disease clinic in Sydney, Australia between 1997 and 2019. Comprehensive review of clinical records, investigations and re-appraisal of genetic data according to current variant classification criteria was performed.

In total, 22% (n = 8/36) of clinically-idiopathic SCA survivors (mean age 36.9 ± 16.9 years, 61% male) had a disease-causing variant identified on broad genetic testing. Of these, 7 (88%) variants resided in cardiomyopathy-associated genes (ACTN2, DES, DSP, MYBPC3, MYH7, PKP2) despite structurally normal hearts or sub-diagnostic structural changes at the time of arrest, so-called "concealed cardiomyopathy". Only one SCA survivor had a variant identified in a channelopathy associated gene (SCN5A).

Extended molecular analysis with multi-phenotype genetic testing can identify a "concealed cardiomyopathy", and increase the diagnosis rate for clinically-idiopathic SCA survivors.