Does my family has a genetic predisposition towards cardiac arrest?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am a 28-year-old woman. Three years back, my elder brother passed away at the age of 31. He got a sudden cardiac arrest while playing football. When we reached the hospital, he passed away at the gate. He suffered for an hour from sudden pain and died due to it. Three years later, my second sibling or elder sister passed away due to similar sudden pain. She suffered from pain for one hour 45 minutes and then died. She went to hospital from her workplace complaining about pain and she was not able to breathe. My doctor suspects that we have something in our genetic pattern suggesting sudden cardiac arrest without any symptoms. After me, I have a 25-year-old younger sister. Our parents do not have any specific issues related to heart. Kindly help us. Please mention whether we need genetic testing to know about our health patterns.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Your first line of investigation is ECG (electrocardiogram) and echocardiography. An autopsy should be done for sudden death victims. Do ECG (electrocardiogram), echocardiography, and fasting lipid profile. If your resting ECG remains normal, then ECG can be done with provocative maneuvers. Do stress ECG or 24-hour holter monitoring. If needed, you can do CT (computed tomography) coronary angiography.