Background: Magnetocardiography (MCG) is a new noninvasive modality for recording cardiac depolarization and repolarization and was used in the present study to evaluate abnormalities in patients with Brugada syndrome (BS).
Methods and results: The MCG findings of 10 BS, 21 right bundle branch block (RBBB), and 34 normal patients were compared. On the horizontal spatiotemporal activation graph (STAG), the r' waves were more frequently located on the right side in the RBBB than in the normal (p=0.001) or BS groups (p=0.001). The maximum current angles of the r' wave fell into the northwest axis in all BS patients as compared to having a right axis deviation in 19 of 21 RBBB patients (90.4%, p=0.001). In the magnetic field and current density vector maps during late repolarization, the BS group had a non-dipole pattern more frequently and a higher number of poles compared with the normal (p=0.001) and RBBB groups (p=0.001).
Conclusions: During depolarization, the horizontal STAG location and maximum current angle of the r' wave were beneficial in differentiating BS from RBBB and normal. The magnetic dispersion was a more frequently observed finding in BS patients than in RBBB and normal patients during late repolarization.