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Sudden Cardiac Deaths in Adults with Congenital Heart Disease with Structural Abnormalities: A Retrospective Review of Cases in the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office
Author(s) -
Gitto Lorenzo,
Serinelli Serenella,
Arunkumar Ponni,
White Steven M.
Publication year - 2020
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 - 10.1111/1556-4029.14165
Subject(s) - medical examiner , medicine , autopsy , sudden cardiac death , cause of death , heart disease , forensic pathology , sudden death , pediatrics , disease , retrospective cohort study , surgery , medical emergency , poison control , cardiology , injury prevention
Sudden cardiac death is a significant cause of mortality in adults with congenital heart disease ( CHD ). The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office database was queried for cases of CHD as a cause of death in the period between July 2008 and April 2019. Twenty‐two cases were identified, including 11 decedents with simple defects and 10 decedents with complex defects. All of the subjects were in apparent good health at the time of death. In the absence of other obvious causes of death, simple defects were considered cases of sudden cardiac death. Significant cardiac morphological changes were common in complex defects. While 16 cases had known, diagnosed/treated CHD , 5 cases had no diagnosis prior to autopsy. In these cases, the ability to recognize CHD (sometimes subtle) helped in determining the causes of death. Therefore, forensic pathologists must be able to properly recognize various forms of CHD and request consultations, when needed.