Postmortem computed tomography for detecting causes of sudden death in infants and children: retrospective review of cases |
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Authors: | Oyake Yuji Aoki Takeshi Shiotani Seiji Kohno Mototsugu Ohashi Noriyoshi Akutsu Hiroyoshi Yamazaki Kentaro |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Pediatrics, Oyake Children's Clinic, 3-7-19 Higashiishikawa, Hitachinaka 312-0052, Japan;(2) Department of Pediatrics, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan;(3) Department of Radiology, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan;(4) Department of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan;(5) Department of Neurosurgery, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan;(6) Department of Forensic Medicine, Tsukuba Medical Examiner's Office, Tsukuba, Japan |
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Abstract: | Purpose The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) in detecting causes of sudden
death in infants and children.
Materials and methods Our subjects were 15 nontraumatically deceased patients (nine boys and six girls, ranging in age from 20 days after birth
to 12 years old, mean age 1.6 years), who had been in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest on arrival at our hospital. PMCT was
performed within 2 h after certification of death: head (15 cases), chest (11 cases), and abdomen (12 cases). Blood was collected
from 11 of the patients at the time of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An autopsy was conducted on two.
Results PMCT did not show any traumatic changes indicating child abuse. It was difficult to presume the cause of death with PMCT alone,
but the cause of death in 14 of 15 cases could be presumed by combining information from their medical history, clinical course
before death, PMCT findings, laboratory data, and bacterial culture. The remaining subject was classified as cause unknown.
Conclusion The causes of sudden death in infants and children were detected at a high rate when we comprehensively investigated the PMCT
and other examination findings.
This article was presented at the Japan Radiology Congress, Yokohama, April 2005 |
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Keywords: | Postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) Autopsy imaging Sudden infant death Forensic radiology |
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