Long QT Syndrome: A Clinical Entity Resembling Epilepsy
Mehmet Güney Şenol, Halit Yaşar, Fatih Özdağ, Erdem Toğrol, Mehmet Saraçoğlu
Neurology Clinic, Gata Haydarpasa Education Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey
Keywords: long QT syndrome, epilepsy, syncope, Torsades de Pointes, stellate ganglion blockage
Abstract
Scientific BACKGROUND: Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) is a cardiac repolarization defect, characterized by lengthened QT interval in the ECG. It can cause syncope due to rapid, polimorphic ventricular tachycardia known as Torsades de Pointes (TdP) or it may cause sudden cardiac death. This clinical entity is frequently mistaken for epilepsy.
CASE: In this report, a 24-year old male patient with congenital LQTS is presented. The patient was originally followed-up for epilepsy. During the evaluation process his loss of consciousness attacks were linked with ventricular tachycardia -TdP- periods and thus a diagnosis of LQTS was reached. When cardiac arrest ocurred in this patient, "stellate ganglion blockage” was performed.
CONCLUSION: One must bear LQTS in mind in all patients with suspicious-looking syncope attacks and it must not be forgotten that early diagnosis and timely therapy will save the life of the individual.