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Negative autopsy and sudden cardiac death

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Abstract

Forensic medicine defines the unexplained sudden death as a death with a non-conclusive diagnosis after autopsy. Molecular diagnosis is being progressively incorporated in forensics, mainly due to improvement in genetics. New genetic technologies may help to identify the genetic cause of death, despite clinical interpretation of genetic data remains the current challenge. The identification of an inheritable defect responsible for arrhythmogenic syndromes could help to adopt preventive measures in family members, many of them asymptomatic but at risk of sudden death. This multidisciplinary translational research requires a specialized team.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the “La Caixa” Foundation.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cardiovascular Genetic Center, University of Girona-IDIBGI, Girona, Spain

    Oscar Campuzano, Catarina Allegue, Anna Iglesias & Ramon Brugada

  2. Institute of Public Health, Section of Legal Medicine, Catholic University, Rome, Italy

    Sara Partemi & Antonio Oliva

  3. Medical School, Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain

    Ramon Brugada

  4. Cardiovascular Genetics Center, Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica Girona-IdIBGi, C/ Pic de Peguera 15, 17003, Girona, Spain

    Ramon Brugada

Authors
  1. Oscar Campuzano
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  2. Catarina Allegue
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  3. Sara Partemi
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  4. Anna Iglesias
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  5. Antonio Oliva
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  6. Ramon Brugada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ramon Brugada.

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Campuzano, O., Allegue, C., Partemi, S. et al. Negative autopsy and sudden cardiac death. Int J Legal Med 128, 599–606 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-014-0966-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-014-0966-4

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