Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a catastrophic complication of many cardiac conditions
often occurring without warning. In these cases, a post-mortem examination is required
to elucidate the cause of death and is regarded as the ‘gold standard’. However, in
circumstances of certain religious/cultural beliefs and advanced body decomposition
an alternative non-invasive approach would be preferred. Although a developing field,
post-mortem imaging using computed tomography (pmCT) or magnetic resonance imaging
(pmMR) provides a non-invasive and accurate alternative to traditional post-mortem
in specific circumstances. In particular, pmMR has an important role in younger decedents
while pmCT is more suited to examination of adults with SCD. Despite encouraging results
from several preliminary studies, more research is needed to determine the most appropriate
role for post-mortem imaging in the clinical algorhythm for investigation of SCD.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 26, 2018
Identification
Copyright
Crown Copyright © 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ). All rights reserved.
