13. Epidemiological and histopathological characteristics of cardiac lesions in young sudden cardiac death
Main Article Content
Abstract
A cross-sectional study was conducted on 113 cases of SCD in young people. Autopsy was performed at the Military Medicine Institute, Hanoi Center for Forensic Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City Center for Forensic Medicine and the Department of Legal Medicine, Hanoi Medical University. The study period was from January 2022 to December 2023. The majority of the cases were males (86.7%). The highest rate of SCD was observed in the 31 - 40 age group (53%), with an average age of 31 ± 7.7 years. Myocardial lesions and coronary atherosclerosis were concentrated in the 21 - 30 and 31 - 40 age groups (p = 0.004) and were more prevalent in males (p = 0.144). In 38 cases (33.6%) of SCD with no apparent myocardial lesions on histology, genetic arrhythmia syndrome (SADS) was suspected. Genetic testing is recommended for cases of SCD in young people without structural lesions on histology.
Article Details
Keywords
Sudden cardiac death, sudden unexplained death, arrhythmia
References
2. Martin K. Stiles, Arthur A. M. Wilde, Dominic J. Abrams. 2020 APHRS/HRS expert consensus statement on the investigation of decedents with sudden unexplained death and patients with sudden cardiac arrest, and of their families. Heart Rhythm. 2021; 18:e1-e50.
3. Winkel BG. Sudden cardiac death in young Danes. Dan Med J. 2012; 59(2): B4403.
4. Bagnall RD, Weintraub RG, Ingles J, et al. A Prospective Study of Sudden Cardiac Death among Children and Young Adults N Engl J Med. 2016; 374(25): 2441-2452.
5. Carrington M, de Gouveia RH, Teixeira R, Corte-Real F, Gonçalves L, Providência R. Sudden death in young South European population: a cross-sectional study of postmortem cases. Sci Rep. 2023; 13(1): 22734. Published 2023 Dec 20.
6. Kelly KL, Lin PT, Basso C, et al. Sudden cardiac death in the young: A consensus statement on recommended practices for cardiac examination by pathologists from the Society for Cardiovascular Pathology. Cardiovasc Pathol. 2023; 63: 107497
7. Eckart RE, Shry EA, Burke AP, et al. Sudden death in young adults: an autopsy-based series of a population undergoing active surveillance. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2011; 58: 1254-1261.
8. Napolitano C, Bloise R, Monteforte N, Priori SG. Sudden cardiac death and genetic ion channelopathies: long QT, Brugada, short QT, catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, and idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. Circulation. 2012; 125: 2027-2034.
9. Basso C, Aguilera B, Banner J, et al. Guidelines for autopsy investigation of sudden cardiac death: 2017 update from the Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology. Virchows Arch. 2017; 471(6): 691-705.
10. Duncanson ER, Mackey-Bojack SM. Histologic Examination of the Heart in the Forensic Autopsy. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2018; 8(3): 565-615.
11. Markwerth P, Bajanowski T, Tzimas I, Dettmeyer R. Sudden cardiac death-update. Int J Legal Med. 2021; 135(2): 483-495.
12. Christopher X. Wong, Alex Brown, Dennis H. Lau at el) Epidemiology of Sudden Cardiac Death: Global and Regional Perspectives. Heart, Lung and Circulation 28.2019; 6(14): 1443-9506.
13. Vähätalo J, Holmström L, Pakanen L, et al. Coronary Artery Disease as the Cause of Sudden Cardiac Death Among Victims < 50 Years of Age. Am J Cardiol. 2021; 147: 33-38.
14. Frank I Marcus, Sumeet S Chugh. Unexplained sudden cardiac death: an opportunity to identify hereditary cardiac arrhythmias. European Heart Journal. 2011; 32(8): 931-933.