Coping and support
By Mayo Clinic staffLong QT syndrome can be a worrisome condition because of its serious potential outcomes. Worrying about possible fatal heart rhythms can obviously cause you and your family a lot of stress.
Families with inherited long QT syndrome may find it helpful to talk to a cardiologist with expertise in diagnosing and treating long QT syndrome, a genetics counselor, a psychiatrist or psychologist, as well as other families with the condition.
- Ackerman MJ, et al. Congenital long QT syndrome. In: Gussak I, et al. Electrical Diseases of the Heart; Genetics, Mechanisms, Treatment, Prevention. New York, NY.: Springer; 2008:462.
- Priori SG. Genetics of cardiac arrhythmias. In: Libby P, et al, eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-4106-1..50012-1--cesec6&uniq=174957165&isbn=978-1-4160-4106-1&sid=927975209#lpState=open&lpTab=contentsTab&content=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-4106-1..50012-1--cesec1%3Bfrom%3Dtoc%3Btype%3DbookPage%3Bisbn%3D978-1-4160-4106-1. Accessed Dec. 10, 2009.
- Spazzolini C, et al. Clinical implications for patients with long QT syndrome who experience a cardiac event during infancy. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2009;54:832.
- Goldenberg I, et al. Risk factors for aborted cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death in children with the congenital long-QT syndrome. Circulation. 2008;117:2184.
- Hobbs JB, et al. Risk of aborted cardiac arrest of sudden cardiac death during adolescence in the long QT syndrome. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2006;296:1249.
- Sauer AJ, et al. Long QT syndrome in adults. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2007;49:329.
- Goldenberg I, et al. Long-QT syndrome after age 40. Circulation. 2008;117:2192.
- Johnson JN, et al. Identification of a possible pathogenic link between congenital long QT syndrome and epilepsy. Neurology. 2009;72:224.
- Tester DJ, et al. Cardiomyopathic and channelopathic causes of sudden unexplained death in infants and children. Annual Review of Medicine. 2009;60:69.
- Tester DJ, et al. Effect of clinical phenotype on yield of long QT syndrome genetic testing. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2006;47:764.
- Kapa S, et al. Genetic testing for long QT syndrome - Distinguishing pathogenic mutations from benign variants. Circulation. 2009;120:1752.
- Ackerman MJ, et al. Molecular diagnosis of the inherited long-QT syndrome in a woman who died after near-drowning. New England Journal of Medicine. 1999;341:1121.
- Tester DJ, et al. Postmortem long QT syndrome genetic testing for sudden unexplained death in the young. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2007;49:240.
- Genetic testing: Where to start. The Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndromes (SADS) Foundation. http://www.sads.org/index.php/General/Where-to-Start.html. Accessed Feb. 6, 2010.
- Taggart NW, et al. Diagnostic miscues in congenital long QT syndrome. Circulation. 2007;115:2613.
- Collura CA, et al. Left cardiac sympathetic denervation for the treatment of long QT syndrome and catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia using video-assisted thoracic surgery. Heart Rhythm. 2009;6:752.
- Zipes DP, et al. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2005;45:1354.
- Farnsworth MM, et al. When I go in to wake them ... I Wonder: Parental perceptions about congenital long QT syndrome. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. 2006;18:284.
- Ackerman MJ (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Feb. 1, 2010.
- Anand RG, et al. The role of fish oil in arrhythmia prevention. Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention. 2008;28:92.

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