Long Q-T Syndrome: Diagnosis and Treatment

A stress test can also be performed while the patient is hooked up to an EKG. This test is useful because many symptoms or prolonged heart rhythms are detectable after a shock, sudden surprise, or stressful activity and a doctor can better monitor a heart if it is pumping harder.

The last way to test for LQTS is to have blood tested for mutations in the genes known to currently cause LQTS. The genes with mutations causing LQTS have been identified since 1995, but there are still only a few places in the world which have the facilities to perform the test.

Long Q-T Syndrome (LQTS) is not easily diagnosed because of the practically unnoticeable symptoms. Since the symptoms present can be associated with many diseases and can happen only once or twice, there are only a few ways to diagnosis LQTS.

One of the ways to find LQTS is through an electrocardiogram, or EKG. The EKG is useful because it can show the severity of the problem. An EKG can sometimes spot the problem easily although in some cases it is impossible to spot. In order to help detect LQTS, the EKG can also be done using a belt for a period of twenty-four hours while the machine monitors the heart rhythm.