Molecular autopsy

Excerpt

In this month’s issue of the Netherlands Heart Journal, Vos et al. describe the findings of a comprehensive autopsy study into all cases of unexplained and unexpected deaths in minors (0–17 years) in the Netherlands over a period of 15 months [1]. An interesting finding here is that in 25% of cases no structural abnormalities were found at autopsy, which suggests sudden cardiac death (SCD) caused by an inherited arrhythmogenic disorder. Vos et al. and others stress the importance of a systematic autopsy for SCD in minors and argue that cardiogenetic screening, a ‘molecular autopsy’, should be performed when the autopsy does not reveal a structural abnormality which explains the cause of death [2, 3]. What are arguments for and against molecular autopsy after SCD in minors? …