Chandrakala’s scientific contributions

OBJECTIVE To study the histopathological lesions of Heart in cases of sudden death. METHOD During the period from 1st July 2014 to 30 November 2015, out of 144 medicolegal autopsies, 120 autopsies of heart were received. Five specimen of heart were autolyzed so 115 autopsy specimen of heart were included for study. Routine H and E staining is used for microscopic examination. RESULT Out of 115 cases, 74 cases shows atherosclerosis, 33 cases shows features of myocardial infarction, myocardial hypertrophy found in 60 cases, 11 cases shows myocarditis, vaso-occlusive crisis in sickle cell was present in 6 cases and pericarditis present in 1 case. In 29 cases, there was no identifiable cause of death even after complete gross and microscopic autopsy was performed. CONCLUSION It was concluded that myocardial infarction due to atherosclerotic ischaemic heart disease is probably the commonest diagnosis made in majority of sudden death cases subjected to medicolegal autopsies. Histological findings must be evaluated with great attention for preventing incorrect conclusion to identify causes of deaths in sudden death cases.