RESUMEN
Witnessed reports of sudden death are rare, but critical to deciphering its mechanism(s). We report such a death in a seemingly healthy 8-month-old boy in whom seizures and respiratory distress in the prone position were witnessed upon discovery during a sleep period. Following cardiopulmonary resuscitation, anoxic encephalopathy resulted in "brain death" and withdrawal of life support after 2 days. The autopsy did not reveal a primary anatomic cause of death. Metabolic evaluation failed to uncover an inborn error of ammonia, amino, organic, or fatty acid metabolism. Seizures in this case may have been secondary to cerebral hypoxia-ischemia complicating cardiorespiratory arrest of unknown etiology. Yet, they may represent the first manifestation of idiopathic epilepsy, triggering cardiopulmonary arrest, analogous to the terminal events postulated in sudden and unexplained death in epilepsy. This report alerts the forensic community to the possibility that sudden and unexplained death in infants may be due to seizures.
Asunto(s)
Convulsiones/complicaciones , Sueño , Muerte Súbita del Lactante/etiología , Anticonvulsivantes/uso terapéutico , Autopsia , Reanimación Cardiopulmonar , Causas de Muerte , Resultado Fatal , Humanos , Lactante , Masculino , Posición Prona , Trastornos Respiratorios/etiología , Trastornos Respiratorios/fisiopatología , Trastornos Respiratorios/terapia , Convulsiones/tratamiento farmacológico , Convulsiones/fisiopatología , Muerte Súbita del Lactante/patologíaRESUMEN
The differential diagnosis of known entities associated with sudden unexpected death in infancy is ever expanding. Here we report the case of a 10-month-old infant boy whose clinical presentation mimicked that of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). This presentation included the typical features of SIDS: sleep-related death; prone position upon discovery; and minor illness within 2 days of death. Nevertheless, neuropathologic examination revealed striking hippocampal asymmetry and microdysgenesis similar to that reported previously by us in toddlers with sleep-related sudden death. Hippocampal maldevelopment in the setting of sudden death in infants and toddlers is analogous to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy associated with temporal lobe pathology, and suggests a possible role for seizures in the terminal events leading to sudden death. This report serves to alert pediatric and forensic pathologists to hippocampal asymmetry and microdysgenesis in the differential diagnosis of sudden infant death mimicking SIDS.