When is myocarditis indeed the cause of death?
| Autor: | Francesco Ventura, Alessandro Dell'Erba, Giulio Fraternali Orcioni, Alessandro Bonsignore, Eloisa Maselli, Francesca Buffelli, Cristian Palmiere, Francesco De Stefano, Andrea Marzullo |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Forensic pathology Study groups Myocarditis Underlying cause of death Histopathology Autopsy Cause of death 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology Pathology and Forensic Medicine 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine medicine Incidence 2734 030216 legal & forensic medicine Intensive care medicine business.industry Myocardial inflammation medicine.disease business Law Focal myocarditis |
| Zdroj: | Forensic Science International. 285:72-76 |
| ISSN: | 0379-0738 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.01.027 |
| Popis: | Attribution of death to myocarditis continues to be a controversial issue in forensic pathology, despite the existence of established histopathological criteria as well as complementary investigations. The aim of the study was two-fold: (a) to retrospectively analyse the data obtained from a series of clinical and forensic autopsies in order to assess the number of cases with death attributed to myocarditis, and (b) to reevaluate these cases in order to assess how properly the histopathological diagnosis of myocarditis conformed to established criteria and therefore how accurately these were used on the basis of all postmortem investigation findings to conclude the cause of death. 2474 clinical and forensic autopsies were taken into consideration. Myocarditis was recorded as the official, underlying cause of death in 48 cases. Of those, 8 cases were considered to accurately conform to the histopathological Dallas criteria for the presence of myocarditis and could therefore be classified as cases of fatal myocarditis. In 19 out of 48 cases, description of focal myocarditis was considered to accurately fulfill the histopathological Dallas criteria for the presence of myocarditis. However, data provided by histological analysis and virology testing result reevaluation allowed alternative causes of death to be speculated. In another 21 out of 48 cases, description of focal myocardial inflammation was considered to inaccurately meet the histopathological Dallas criteria for the presence of myocarditis. The findings of our own study appear to be in agreement with previous observations in similar study groups and highlight that since myocarditis may occur in association with many diseases, a great deal of evidence is required before settling on categorical conclusions. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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