title: Sudden death in adolescence caused by cardiac haemangioma.
abstract: Primary tumors of the heart in infants and children are rare. The types of heart tumors in pediatric age groups are generally different from those in adults. Cardiac myxoma is by far the most common tumor in adults, but in infants and adolescents the prevalent tumor of the heart is rhabdomyoma. Among benign cardiac tumors, cardiac hemangiomas are rare and often diagnosed post-mortem due to the lack of specific clinical symptoms and signs. We report a case of sudden death due to cardiac hemangioma in an apparently healthy 15-year-old adolescent. The autopsy revealed a cardiac hemangioma located at the apex of the heart; the histopathological examination showed the tumor was a mixed capillary and arteriolar hemangioma, a very rare type of primary tumor in adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Legal Medicine, Via Del Vespro, 127, 90129 Palermo, Italy. stefaniazerbo@virgilio.it
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zerbo
authors.forename: Antonina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Argo
authors.forename: Emiliano
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maresi
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liotta
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Procaccianti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000209:etiology*; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006338:Heart Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D018324:Hemangioma, Capillary / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology