PMID: 18711970Aug 21, 2008Paper

Molecular autopsy of sudden cardiac death: from postmortem to clinical approach

Revue médicale suisse
Katarzyna MichaudPatrice Mangin

Abstract

Sudden cardiac death is one of the most prevalent cause of death in developed countries. Its aetiology varies according to the age. Some cardiac diseases may explain sudden death with minimal or no anatomic findings. However, many cardiac diseases, as for example channelopathies and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy have a genetic basis. Therefore genetic analyses (molecular autopsy) are becoming a useful tool in forensic medicine to identify the cause of sudden cardiac death and to improve the early diagnosis of asymptomatic carriers among relatives.

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