Prolonged QT interval predicts all-cause mortality in epilepsy patients: Diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Epilepsy affects more than 50 million people worldwide, including 3 million adults and 470,000 children in the United claims 1 case per 1000 adult patients per year, or 2750 to 3600 U.S. deaths annually (Figure 1). The International League Against Epilepsy defines SUDEP as "a sudden, unexpected death in a person with epilepsy, with or without evidence of a seizure preceding the death, in which there is no evidence of other disease, injury, or drowning that caused the death." Whereas multiple pathophysiological mechanisms including congenital brain and heart channelopathies have been implicated in SUDEP, pulmonary failure in the postictal period leading to cardiac asystole is best charactertion omits sudden cardiac death cases as, by definition,