Forensic pathological and genetic landmarks in sudden cardiac death in the young: An update
An episode of sudden death in a young individual is a dramatic event for family members but also a challenge for cardiologists, pediatricians, forensic pathologists and researchers. In the young population, most of sudden deaths are of cardiac origin, in particular due to hereditary cardiac disorder...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Rovira i virgili (URV) |
| Repositorio: | Repositori Institucional de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:urv.cat:imarina:9463903 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina9463903 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Genetics,Genetics & Heredity,Medicine, Legal,Pathology and Forensic Medicine Association Autopsy Concealed cardiomyopathy Diagnosis Famil Family Genetics Guidelines Heart Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy Long qt syndrome Societ Statement Sudden cardiac death Young Antropologia / arqueologia Astronomia / física Biodiversidade Biotecnología Ciências agrárias i Ciências ambientais Ciências biológicas i Ciências biológicas ii Ciências biológicas iii Direito Engenharias iii Farmacia General medicine Genetics & heredity Interdisciplinar Medicina i Medicina ii Medicine, legal Nutrição Odontología Pathology and forensic medicine Química Saúde coletiva |
| Sumario: | An episode of sudden death in a young individual is a dramatic event for family members but also a challenge for cardiologists, pediatricians, forensic pathologists and researchers. In the young population, most of sudden deaths are of cardiac origin, in particular due to hereditary cardiac disorders. The autopsy protocol includes a proper macroscopic heart examination and a comprehensive histological analysis. The identification of pathognomonic histopathologic findings may help to unravel the cause of death, but microscopic features are often non-specific and highly ambiguous. Negative autopsy leads to classify the decease as a sudden arrhythmic death syndrome despite concealed cardiomyopathies may be also suspected. The molecular autopsy helps to identify the pathogenic genetic alteration associated with the arrhythmogenic episode leading to the sudden cardiac death. Due to genetic diseases, clinical assessment and genotype-phenotype correlation of relatives is mandatory to early identification of family members at risk and thus adoption of preventive measures, especially in asymptomatic genetic carriers. Specialized teams must carry out a personalized interpretation, integrating all the autopsy findings along with the family history to obtain a conclusive cause of the sudden death. In this review we pretend to update these critical issues. |
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