Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Autopsy for Medical Diagnostics of Sudden Unexpected Death: Cardiac Conduction System Findings

Version 1 : Received: 15 May 2023 / Approved: 17 May 2023 / Online: 17 May 2023 (02:39:12 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Ottaviani, G.; Ramos, S.G. Autopsy for Medical Diagnostics: Finding the Cause of Sudden Unexpected Death through Investigation of the Cardiac Conduction System by Serial Sections. Diagnostics 2023, 13, 1919. Ottaviani, G.; Ramos, S.G. Autopsy for Medical Diagnostics: Finding the Cause of Sudden Unexpected Death through Investigation of the Cardiac Conduction System by Serial Sections. Diagnostics 2023, 13, 1919.

Abstract

Sudden unexpected death (SUD) is a fatal event that occurs in an apparently healthy subject so that such an abrupt outcome could have not been predicted. SUD - including sudden intrauterine unexplained death (SIUD), sudden neonatal unexpected death (SNUD), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), sudden unexpected death of the young (SUDY), sudden unexpected death in the adult (SUDA) - occurs as the first manifestation of an unknown underlying disease or within a few hours of presentation of a disease. SUD is a major unsolved, shocking form of death that occurs frequently and can happen at any time without warning. For each case of SUD, a review of clinical history data and performance of a complete autopsy, particularly focused on the study of the cardiac conduction system were carried out according to the necropsy protocol devised by the Lino Rossi Research Center, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. Research cases are represented by 75 SUD victims, subdivided into 15 SIUD, 15 SNUD, 15 SUDY, and 15 SUDA victims, collected and selected for this study. After the routine autopsy and clinical history analysis, the death remained unexplained and hence a diagnosis of SUD was assigned to the 75. subjects, which included45 females (60%) and 30 (40%) males, ranging in age from 27 gestational weeks to 76 years. Serial sections of the cardiac conduction system disclosed frequent congenital alterations, of the cardiac conduction system in fetuses and infants. An age-related significant difference in distribution among the 5 age-related groups was detected for the following anomalies of the conduction system: central fibrous body (CFB) islands of conduction tissue, fetal dispersion, resorptive degeneration, Mahaim fiber, CFB cartilaginous meta-hyperplasia, His bundle septation, sino-atrial node (SAN) artery fibromuscular thickening, atrio-ventricular junction hypoplasia, intramural right bundle branch, and SAN hypoplasia. The results data are useful to understand the cause of death for all SUD cases that were unexpected and would have otherwise remained unexplained, so to motivate medical examiners and pathologists to perform more in-depth studies.

Keywords

autopsy; post-mortem investigation; sudden unexpected death; sudden infant death syndrome; sudden intrauterine unexpected death; cardiac conduction system.

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems

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