Cardiac Potassium Channel Disorders: From Basics to Clinics

The last two decades have witnessed dramatic progress in our understanding of cardiac ion channels, and their structure, function, and regulation. We have learned about the role of various ion channels in cardiac physiology and their involvement in cardiac pathophysiology. We have also learned a great deal about the genetic control of channels, by both genes encoding the subunits that form channels and associated/regulatory subunits that are essential for normal ion channel properties. A great deal of information has been obtained by studying mutations in ion channel genes that cause cardiac disease. Sodium, potassium, and calcium ion channels are crucial for cardiac homeostasis and are implicated in physiologic regulation and pathologic conditions; potassium channels constitute the most diverse and complex cardiac ion channel family. In December 2014, Cardiac Electrophysiology Clinics published an issue dedicated to cardiac sodium channel disorders. We are delighted that the Consulting Editors invited us to be the Guest Editors of the current issue on “Cardiac Potassium Channel Disorders: From Basics to Clinics.” Despite the presence of much material in the literature about cardiac