Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and sudden cardiac death

Every year, individuals with no history of heart disease succumb to sudden cardiac death (SCD). Pathologic examination of the hearts usually reveals various forms of heart disease as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or coronary aretery disease. In other cases, however, there is no obvious structural heart disease, and it is possible that some of these individuals died because of a cardiac arrhythmia involving an accessory pathway. If this were the case, the most likely scenario would be onset of atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardia (AVRT), degeneration of the AVRT into atrial fibrillation with a rapid ventricular response over the accessory pathway, and subsequent death caused by the development of ventricular fibrillation. Although these events have been documented, albeit rarely, during intracardiac electrophysiologic studies, in reality very little is known about the natural history of asymptomatic and untreated patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. In fact, SCD in a previously asymptomatic patient with WPW syndrome is probably relatively rare. Whether asymptomatic WPW patients should undergo electrophysiologic or pharmacologic testing to determine their 'potential' to develop serious cardiac arrhythmias is controversial. The present paucity of data concerning the natural history of WPW syndrome in asymptomatic paients militates against successful identification of those patients who are at risk for sudden death. Long-term prospective studies are necessary to clarify which asymptomatic patients with WPW syndrome require treatment.