Familial Arrhythmia Network (FANS)
The formation of the Familial Arrhythmia Network of Scotland was driven by the recognition by both cardiologists and clinical geneticists in Scotland that the management of individuals with primary electrical diseases at risk of sudden cardiac death, and their families is challenging and requires co-ordinated strategies and input from many healthcare professionals.
An estimated 400,000 people die annually in the United States of sudden cardiac death (SCD), a major clinical and public health problem. In about 5% to 15% of all SCD cases, a definitive cause cannot be determined, and victims are often young otherwise ‘healthy’ individuals. In the UK, unexplained sudden death where there is no cause identified, is frequently classified as due to natural causes. Experts believe that the majority of these deaths are due to cardiac causes. Although accurate statistics are not available, experts estimate that up to 8 young people die suddenly each week in the UK of SCD. The majority of young SCDs are due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, however it is now recognized that inherited electrophysiological abnormalities, termed primary electrical diseases, are a common underlying cause of these unexplained cardiac arrests. These conditions include the long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC), Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia (CPVT) and Wolff-Parkinson–White syndrome. The remaining patients without such distinct electrophysiological abnormalities are generally categorized as having idiopathic ventricular fibrillation.
Identification of individuals at risk is important because there are effective therapies to prevent SCD, and because death in this age group is associated with widespread social and economic ramifications. It is evident that implementing appropriate screening and therapeutic strategies is dependant on accurate identification of those affected. However the diagnosis of these conditions remains a vexing challenge for clinicians because these conditions are not commonly identifiable with standard clinical evaluation. More accurate diagnosis would allow early identification, risk stratification, implementation of lifestyle modification and preventative therapies, which should reduce the frequency of SCD.
Further information can be found on the external FANS website. National Services Division are not responsible for the content of any external sites.
Annual Report
The most recent annual report for the Network is available below:
Familial Arrhythmia National Managed Clinical Network Annual Report 2009/10 [15 pages, 1.28Mb]
National Services Division contacts:
To contact members of NSD staff, please visit our staff contacts page.
James Steven, Programme Manager
Louise Wilson, Assistant Programme Manager
Jean Travers, Programme Support Officer
