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Postmortem computed tomography for detecting causes of sudden death in infants and children: retrospective review of cases

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) in detecting causes of sudden death in infants and children.

Materials and methods

Our subjects were 15 nontraumatically deceased patients (nine boys and six girls, ranging in age from 20 days after birth to 12 years old, mean age 1.6 years), who had been in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest on arrival at our hospital. PMCT was performed within 2 h after certification of death: head (15 cases), chest (11 cases), and abdomen (12 cases). Blood was collected from 11 of the patients at the time of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. An autopsy was conducted on two.

Results

PMCT did not show any traumatic changes indicating child abuse. It was difficult to presume the cause of death with PMCT alone, but the cause of death in 14 of 15 cases could be presumed by combining information from their medical history, clinical course before death, PMCT findings, laboratory data, and bacterial culture. The remaining subject was classified as cause unknown.

Conclusion

The causes of sudden death in infants and children were detected at a high rate when we comprehensively investigated the PMCT and other examination findings.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Oyake Children's Clinic, 3-7-19 Higashiishikawa, Hitachinaka, 312-0052, Japan

    Yuji Oyake

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan

    Takeshi Aoki

  3. Department of Radiology, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan

    Seiji Shiotani

  4. Department of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan

    Mototsugu Kohno & Noriyoshi Ohashi

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, Tsukuba Medical Center, Tsukuba, Japan

    Hiroyoshi Akutsu

  6. Department of Forensic Medicine, Tsukuba Medical Examiner's Office, Tsukuba, Japan

    Kentaro Yamazaki

Authors
  1. Yuji Oyake
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  2. Takeshi Aoki
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  3. Seiji Shiotani
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  4. Mototsugu Kohno
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  5. Noriyoshi Ohashi
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  6. Hiroyoshi Akutsu
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  7. Kentaro Yamazaki
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuji Oyake.

Additional information

This article was presented at the Japan Radiology Congress, Yokohama, April 2005

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Oyake, Y., Aoki, T., Shiotani, S. et al. Postmortem computed tomography for detecting causes of sudden death in infants and children: retrospective review of cases. Radiat Med 24, 493–502 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-006-0061-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-006-0061-y

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