Sudden Cardiac Death in Mitral Valve Prolapse

To the Editor: I read with interest the excellent report on sudden cardiac death with apparently normal heart by Chugh et al.1 Of note was the finding that 28 of 270 hearts (10%) had pathological criteria for mitral valve prolapse. In addressing the association between mitral valve prolapse and sudden cardiac death, the authors classified these hearts as having a nonspecific structural abnormality. Such an assumption is open to question.Evidence to date suggests that the predominant mechanism of sudden cardiac death in mitral valve prolapse is fatal ventricular …