Normal Hearts Linked to Sudden Adult Cardiac Deaths

By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 10 - Many people who suffer non-ischemic
cardiac death appear to have structurally normal hearts, UK researchers
report in the March issue of Heart.

Drs. Mary N. Sheppard and A. Fabre of Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS
Trust, London note that in the "vast majority of cases" sudden adult cardiac
death is caused by ischemic heart disease.

However, they also point out that sudden adult death syndrome, in which no
cause can be found at post-mortem examination, is being increasingly
recognized.

To help characterize the condition, the team prospectively collected data
sent by coroners on sudden deaths in people with no history of heart
disease. These deaths involved 453 men and women ranging in age from 15 to
81 years. Males predominated (61.4%). This was true in age groups both below
and above 35 years.

More than half of the hearts (59.3%) were structurally normal. Abnormalities
that were seen included cardiomyopathies (23%), inflammatory disorders
(8.6%) such as lymphocytic myocarditis, and non-atheromatous abnormalities
of the coronary arteries (4.6%).

The researchers point out that genes tied to conditions associated with
arrhythmias and sudden death have been identified. However, the proteins
that regulate electrical activity are not detectable morphologically at
post-mortem. Such diagnosis can only be made in the living by ECG.

"The clinical relevance of (sudden adult death syndrome) is underestimated,"
Dr. Sheppard told Reuters Health, "We need a national referral pathway for
all such deaths with close links between coroners, pathologists, geneticists
and cardiologists to screen families and prevent more deaths.

posted by Smile Community @ 11:33 AM