How to Study Sudden Death at Autopsy: Protocol of Investigation

Abstract

Since sudden death, especially in the young, is frequently the first and last symptom of an underlying disease, the autopsy is the only way to establish the cause. Thus, it should be regularly carried out, not only for the right of the family and community to have an explanation of this dramatic event but also for the implications on the surviving relatives [1]. About 30–40 % of sudden deaths are indeed ascribable to genetically determined, transmissible morbid entities, mostly with an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance, so that 50 % of the first-degree relatives are potentially genetically affected (“carriers”) of the mutation and exposed at risk [1–5].