title: Hypoplastic coronary artery disease causing sudden death. Report of two cases and review of the literature.
abstract: Congenital coronary anomalies represent a condition often unrecognized in the living and in the dead. Investigating this condition is relevant for both clinicians and pathologists in order to identify potentially unrecognized coronary causes of sudden death. Hypoplastic coronary artery disease (HCAD) is a rare congenital abnormality reported to be associated with sudden death. We report two additional cases of previously apparently healthy people who died suddenly and were found to have HCAD at postmortem evaluation. The clinicopathologic findings are discussed along with a review of the literature.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, School of Medicine, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Giorgio
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abbate
authors.forename: Egidio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stigliano
authors.forename: Arnaldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Capelli
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arena
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003330:Coronary Vessel Anomalies / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans