[Ventricular fibrillation in Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Predictive factors].

The incidence of sudden death in the Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome is not well documented and probably underestimated. This retrospective study concerned 28 consecutive patients presenting with ventricular fibrillation either spontaneously (20) or during electrophysiological investigation (8) but whose characteristics allowed them to be assimilated into a single group. Their clinical and electrophysiological characteristics were compared with those of 60 consecutive patients with the WPW syndrome who had documented atrial fibrillation (and even reciprocating tachycardia) but never ventricular fibrillation. There were no significant differences between the two groups with respect to the following clinical parameters: sex, duration of symptoms, the type of tachycardia previously recorded, history of syncope and presence of underlying cardiac disease. With respect to the electrophysiological data, there were no differences in the point of anterograde block, the effective anterograde refractory period of the accessory pathway, the effective and functional refractory periods of the right atrium and atrial vulnerability. On the other hand, a significant difference was observed in the age of patients with ventricular fibrillation (29 +/- 13 years vs 36 +/- 12 years; p < 0.02), the prevalence of multiple accessory pathways (25% vs 7%; p < 0.04) with a dominant localisation in the postero-septal region (75% vs 47%, p < 0.026), preexcitation during exercise stress testing and under antiarrhythmic therapy (95% vs 68%, p < 0.037). The most discriminating parameter was the shorter RR interval during atrial fibrillation (172 +/- 23 ms vs 230 +/- 50 ms, p < 0.008). Multivariate analysis only showed one independent predictive factor: the minimum preexcited RR interval.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)