Autoptic Findings in Cases of Sudden Death Due to Kawasaki Disease
Kawasaki disease (KD) is the second-most-common childhood vasculitis, and its etiology is still unknown today. Even though the acute illness is usually self-limiting, sometimes, it can generate complications, such as coronary artery aneurysms (CAA), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-05-01
|
| Series: | Diagnostics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/13/11/1831 |
| _version_ | 1797597744115744768 |
|---|---|
| author | Giacomo Visi Federica Spina Fabio Del Duca Alice Chiara Manetti Aniello Maiese Raffaele La Russa Paola Frati Vittorio Fineschi |
| author_facet | Giacomo Visi Federica Spina Fabio Del Duca Alice Chiara Manetti Aniello Maiese Raffaele La Russa Paola Frati Vittorio Fineschi |
| author_sort | Giacomo Visi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Kawasaki disease (KD) is the second-most-common childhood vasculitis, and its etiology is still unknown today. Even though the acute illness is usually self-limiting, sometimes, it can generate complications, such as coronary artery aneurysms (CAA), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, or arrhythmias, and can rarely cause sudden or unexpected deaths. We present a review of the literature, which collects autoptic and histopathological data relating to many of the cases of these deaths. On the basis of the titles and abstracts, we selected 54 scientific publications for a total of 117 cases. Among them, as expected, the majority of the deaths were due to AMI (41.03%), arrhythmia (8.55%), acute coronary syndrome (8.55%), and CAA rupture (11.97%), involving mostly 20-year-olds or younger individuls (69.23%). This is not surprising since the CAs are the most involved arteries. Gross autoptic and histopathological findings are reported in the paper. Our work revealed that, when compared with the incidence of KD, only a few cases suffered from sudden death, underwent an autoptic examination, and were then described in the literature. We suggest that researchers should perform autopsies to gain a better understanding of the molecular pathways involved in KD so as to propose further innovative therapeutic protocols or implement more appropriate prevention schemes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:09:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-af41755440bf44cc948a261ecfdfb72e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4418 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:09:48Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Diagnostics |
| spelling | doaj.art-af41755440bf44cc948a261ecfdfb72e2023-11-18T07:41:43ZengMDPI AGDiagnostics2075-44182023-05-011311183110.3390/diagnostics13111831Autoptic Findings in Cases of Sudden Death Due to Kawasaki DiseaseGiacomo Visi0Federica Spina1Fabio Del Duca2Alice Chiara Manetti3Aniello Maiese4Raffaele La Russa5Paola Frati6Vittorio Fineschi7Department of Surgical Pathology, Medical, Molecular and Critical Area, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Surgical Pathology, Medical, Molecular and Critical Area, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 336, 00161 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Surgical Pathology, Medical, Molecular and Critical Area, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Forensic Pathology, University of Foggia, 71122 Foggia, ItalyDepartment of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 336, 00161 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena 336, 00161 Rome, ItalyKawasaki disease (KD) is the second-most-common childhood vasculitis, and its etiology is still unknown today. Even though the acute illness is usually self-limiting, sometimes, it can generate complications, such as coronary artery aneurysms (CAA), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure, or arrhythmias, and can rarely cause sudden or unexpected deaths. We present a review of the literature, which collects autoptic and histopathological data relating to many of the cases of these deaths. On the basis of the titles and abstracts, we selected 54 scientific publications for a total of 117 cases. Among them, as expected, the majority of the deaths were due to AMI (41.03%), arrhythmia (8.55%), acute coronary syndrome (8.55%), and CAA rupture (11.97%), involving mostly 20-year-olds or younger individuls (69.23%). This is not surprising since the CAs are the most involved arteries. Gross autoptic and histopathological findings are reported in the paper. Our work revealed that, when compared with the incidence of KD, only a few cases suffered from sudden death, underwent an autoptic examination, and were then described in the literature. We suggest that researchers should perform autopsies to gain a better understanding of the molecular pathways involved in KD so as to propose further innovative therapeutic protocols or implement more appropriate prevention schemes.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/13/11/1831Kawasaki diseasepostmortem investigationhistologysudden death |
| spellingShingle | Giacomo Visi Federica Spina Fabio Del Duca Alice Chiara Manetti Aniello Maiese Raffaele La Russa Paola Frati Vittorio Fineschi Autoptic Findings in Cases of Sudden Death Due to Kawasaki Disease Diagnostics Kawasaki disease postmortem investigation histology sudden death |
| title | Autoptic Findings in Cases of Sudden Death Due to Kawasaki Disease |
| title_full | Autoptic Findings in Cases of Sudden Death Due to Kawasaki Disease |
| title_fullStr | Autoptic Findings in Cases of Sudden Death Due to Kawasaki Disease |
| title_full_unstemmed | Autoptic Findings in Cases of Sudden Death Due to Kawasaki Disease |
| title_short | Autoptic Findings in Cases of Sudden Death Due to Kawasaki Disease |
| title_sort | autoptic findings in cases of sudden death due to kawasaki disease |
| topic | Kawasaki disease postmortem investigation histology sudden death |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/13/11/1831 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT giacomovisi autopticfindingsincasesofsuddendeathduetokawasakidisease AT federicaspina autopticfindingsincasesofsuddendeathduetokawasakidisease AT fabiodelduca autopticfindingsincasesofsuddendeathduetokawasakidisease AT alicechiaramanetti autopticfindingsincasesofsuddendeathduetokawasakidisease AT aniellomaiese autopticfindingsincasesofsuddendeathduetokawasakidisease AT raffaelelarussa autopticfindingsincasesofsuddendeathduetokawasakidisease AT paolafrati autopticfindingsincasesofsuddendeathduetokawasakidisease AT vittoriofineschi autopticfindingsincasesofsuddendeathduetokawasakidisease |