Idiopathic long q-t syndrome: brief case report and discussion

Idiopathic long q-t syndrome (LQTS) is an infrequently occurring familial disorder in which affected family members have an abnormally prolonged q-tc interval with syncope, ventricular arrythmias and sudden death. In this article, we present the case of a 54-year-old female admitted for syncope, who was on no medications except for insulin. Her electrocardiogram on admission had prolonged q-tc interval (0.50 ms.). She had repeated episodes of torsades de pointes during her hospitalization, which were later controlled by beta-blockers. Electrocardiograms of her mother and daughter showed asymptomatic prolonged q-tc interval. This syndrome has an autosomal dominant pattern of transmission and it was first described by Romano and Ward in a patient with normal hearing. Our case is unusual because this condition presented so late in life.