Acute coronary findings at autopsy in heart failure patients with sudden death: results from the assessment of treatment with lisinopril and survival (ATLAS) trial.
BACKGROUND
Sudden unexpected death frequently occurs in chronic heart failure. The importance of acute coronary events in triggering sudden death (SD) is unclear.


RESULTS
We evaluated at autopsy the prevalence of acute coronary findings (coronary thrombus, ruptured plaque, or myocardial infarction [MI]) and their relation to SD. Autopsy results in 171 patients in the randomized ATLAS trial were reviewed. The prevalence of acute coronary findings was 33%: in 54% of patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD) who died suddenly, 32% who died of myocardial failure, but in non-CAD patients, they were present in only 5% and 10% respectively. The percentage of patients classified as dying of MI was 28% in the autopsy group versus 4% in the nonautopsied group (P<0.0001). Of the autopsied group with acute MI, 97% (31 of 32 patients) with SD and 40% (6 of 15 patients) with myocardial failure did not have the MI diagnosed during life. When undiagnosed MI was classified as "sudden unexpected" or "myocardial failure" from clinical information only, the distribution of death causes was similar in the autopsy and nonautopsied groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Acute coronary findings are frequent and usually not clinically diagnosed in heart failure patients with CAD, particularly in those dying suddenly, suggesting the importance of acute coronary events as a trigger for SD in this setting.
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, USA.
B F
BF
Uretsky
K
K
Thygesen
P W
PW
Armstrong
J G
JG
Cleland
J D
JD
Horowitz
B M
BM
Massie
M
M
Packer
P A
PA
Poole-Wilson
L
L
Ryden
D000208:Acute Disease; D001344:Autopsy; D002303:Cardiac Output, Low / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002423:Cause of Death; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D017706:Lisinopril / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis
D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D017706:Lisinopril