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Techniques and Criteria in Anatomic and Forensic Pathology of Sudden Infant and Perinatal Unexplained Death

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Crib Death - Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

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Abstract

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and sudden unexplained perinatal death are tragic events, still representing the most common form of death within the first year of life despite the progress in the field of maternal and infant health care. They remain unexplained after the usual gross and microscopic examination, and are referable to similar underlying cardiac and neurophysiological mechanisms, as frequent alterations of the autonomic nervous system, both central and peripheral, have been reported. Malignant arrhythmias are known to be a substrate of unexpected infant and perinatal death, especially following accessory atrio-ventricular pathways. Therefore, an accurate examination of the cardiac conduction system, again under the control of the nervous system, is also mandatory. These structural alterations are mainly of a congenital nature and therefore represent a common morphological substrate in both perinatal and infant sudden death. In view of the post mortem pathological findings, the need to perform an in-depth study of the cardiac conduction and autonomic nervous systems, following the guidelines reported below, is self-evident. Because this examination is not routinely performed, detailed indications are given in this protocol of the sampling, processing, cutting and staining procedures.

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  1. Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy

    Giulia Ottaviani MD, PhD

  2. The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Giulia Ottaviani MD, PhD

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Ottaviani, G. (2014). Techniques and Criteria in Anatomic and Forensic Pathology of Sudden Infant and Perinatal Unexplained Death. In: Crib Death - Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08347-6_2

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