Gaetano Thiene

Guidelines for autopsy investigation of sudden cardiac death

Although sudden cardiac death is one of the most important mode of death in Western Countries, pathologists and public health physicians have not given this problem the attention it deserves. New methods of preventing potentially fatal arrhythmias have been developed, and the accurate diagnosis of the causes of sudden cardiac death is now of particular importance. Pathologists are responsible for determining the precise cause of sudden death but there is considerable variation in the way in which they approach this increasingly complex task. The Association for European Cardiovascular Pathology developed guidelines, which represent the minimum standard that is required in the routine autopsy practice for the adequate assessment of sudden cardiac death, including not only a protocol for heart examination and histological sampling, but also for toxicology and molecular investigation. Our recommendations apply to university medical centres, regional and district hospitals and all types of forensic medicine institutes. If a uniform method of investigation is adopted throughout the European Union, this will lead to improvements in standards of practice, allow meaningful comparisons between different communities and regions and, most importantly, permit future trends in the patterns of disease causing sudden death to be monitored.

Cardiac tumor pathology

Cardiac tumors were once a nosographic entity of scarce clinical interest because of the rarity and of the intrinsic diagnostic and therapeutic impossibilities, and were considered a fatal morbid entity. It has now become a topical subject due to advances in clinical imaging (echo, magnetic resonance, computed tomography) as well as innovation in technologies of in-vivo diagnosis. Cardiac Tumor Pathology presents a spectacular example of these advances with clinico-pathologic correlations. This timely volume covers history, epidemiology, demographics, clinical diagnosis, pathology, imaging by echo, CT and MRI of both benign and malignant cardiac tumors, either primary or secondary. Chemotherapy of malignant neoplasms is also addressed. Special emphasis is given to clinico-pathologic correlations.