Role of molecular biology in identifying individuals at risk for sudden cardiac death.

Cardiology has participated in the new developments in molecular biology and the impact of the Human Genome Project. In these last few years, we have observed how the research in human physiology and journal publications have been focusing on the most basic molecular level. Clinicians have likely been having trouble keeping up with the new developments and, more importantly, with the highly publicized discoveries trying to discern what is research and what can already be applied at the bedside. Molecular biology has just started, and there is no doubt that it will have a tremendous impact in the diagnosis, prevention, and therapy of most diseases, including sudden death and cardiac arrhythmia. In the last few years, we have seen new data in the field of genetics and arrhythmia that are already shaping our approach to an inherited disease. Routine clinical tests are not yet available, mainly due to the lack of sufficiently powerful technology, but with the pace of evolution at this turn of the millennium, we can certainly assume that such testing is just a matter of time.