Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Brugada Syndrome and show business?

Last evening on the television show, House, starring Hugh Laurie, Brugada Syndrome was suggested as a possible explanation for the collapse of this week's diagnostically challenging patient.  Once in a while there are references to Brugada Syndrome in movies or television.

Wes Craven
Wes Craven first came up with a basic idea for the movie Nightmare On Elm Street after reading about the mysterious deaths of some young, healthy Cambodian refugees who had come to America to escape the reign of Pol Pot. It's been well documented that this phenomenon, now known as Brugada Syndrome, is seen more frequently among the Asian population and statistically strikes young males in every population more often than females. I've never seen the movie but have seen Brugada Syndrome mentioned as one of Craven's influences often enough to believe this little bit of trivia is probably true.



If you'd like to see a movie starring Brugada Syndrome, this modeling of the presence of Brugada Syndrome, from Elizabeth Cherry, of Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, is mesmerizing. But this video that models a Brugada Syndrome event through stimulation of the heart muscle from the left is hauntingly beautiful even as it represents a potentially dreadful outcome.

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