title: Unexpected sudden death resulting from anomalous origin of the right coronary artery from the left sinus of Valsalva: a case report involving identical twins.
abstract: An anomalous origin of the coronary arteries had been implicated as a cause of sudden cardiac death in a case involving a 16-year-old student who suddenly collapsed while running track at school. An autopsy revealed that the right coronary artery arose from the aorta in the left sinus of Valsalva. In order to determine whether the same anomaly was inherent in his brother--an identical twin--a complete cardiac medical examination was conducted. Multi-detector-row computed tomography (MDCT) coronary angiography showed no anomaly at the sinus of Valsalva, which indicates that the anomaly, in this case, was not hereditary. This case exemplifies instances where forensic medicine may intervene to prevent sudden deaths in surviving family members.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. iino@legal.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Morio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iino
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abiru
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Kaszynski
authors.forename: Qing-Hua
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Tatsuaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuruyama
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamaki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D003330:Coronary Vessel Anomalies / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012850:Sinus of Valsalva / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic