Serinelli Serenella, Arunkumar Ponni, White Steven
Medical Examiner's Office, Department of Anatomy, Histology, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, 00185, Italy.
Cook County Medical Examiners' Office, Chicago, IL, 60612.
J Forensic Sci. 2018 Nov;63(6):1750-1755. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.13779. Epub 2018 Mar 30.
Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects (CHDs), these defects are still an important cause of sudden, unexpected death in young children. This retrospective study identified 64 cases of CHDs presenting as a cause of sudden, unexpected death in a busy, urban Medical Examiner's Office pediatric population between 2006 and 2016. The majority of cases (52 of 64, 81%) were infants. Interestingly, 52% of cases were undiagnosed prior to autopsy. Ventricular septal defects and atrioventricular septal defects were the most common simple (14%) and complex (17%) malformations observed, respectively. In many cases, there were coexistent simple and/or complex defects. Most of the cases diagnosed with CHD prior to autopsy (48%) had undergone some type of surgical repair. This study highlights the importance of considering undiagnosed CHDs as a cause of sudden, unexpected death, particularly in young children.
尽管先天性心脏病（CHD）的诊断和治疗取得了进展，但这些缺陷仍是幼儿突发意外死亡的重要原因。这项回顾性研究在2006年至2016年间，于一家繁忙的城市法医办公室的儿科人群中，确定了64例因CHD导致突发意外死亡的病例。大多数病例（64例中的52例，81%）为婴儿。有趣的是，52%的病例在尸检前未被诊断出。室间隔缺损和房室间隔缺损分别是观察到的最常见的简单（14%）和复杂（17%）畸形。在许多病例中，同时存在简单和/或复杂缺陷。大多数在尸检前被诊断出患有CHD的病例（48%）已经接受了某种类型的手术修复。这项研究强调了将未被诊断出的CHD视为突发意外死亡原因的重要性，尤其是在幼儿中。
