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Causes of Sudden Death in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Author(s) -
Zhang MingChang,
Li Ling,
Fowler David,
Zhao Ziqin,
Wei Dengming,
Zhang Yang,
Burke Allen
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12220
Subject(s) - obstructive sleep apnea , medicine , apnea , sleep (system call) , sudden death , sleep apnea , medical emergency , cardiology , computer science , operating system
There are few autopsy studies of patients dying suddenly with obstructive sleep apnea ( OSA ). Twenty‐five forensic autopsies of unexpected sudden death in individuals with OSA were reviewed. The causes of death were as follows: cardiomyopathy ( n = 11); sudden unexpected death without morphologic findings ( SUDNA , n = 6); and other cardiovascular diseases not related to OSA ( n = 8). The cardiomyopathy group comprised five hearts with concentric left ventricular hypertrophy without dilatation and six with left ventricular diameter >4 cm (dilated cardiomyopathy). Four of six hearts in the SUDNA group showed right ventricular dilatation compared with seven of 11 showed cardiomyopathy and one of eight miscellaneous. The degree of obesity was greatest in the dilated cardiomyopathy group (10 of 11 obese) followed by the SUDNA group (four of six obese). The cardiac findings in patients dying suddenly and unexpectedly with OSA include nonspecific cardiomyopathy, other cardiac conditions, and hearts without a morphologic cause of death, which show frequent right ventricular dilatation as the only finding.