Application of Targeted Coronary Angiography in the Diagnosis of Sudden Cardiac Death

Abstract

Objective To diagnose coronary artery stenosis by using the postmortem computed tomography angiography （PMCTA）, and to explore the diagnostic value of PMCTA in sudden cardiac death. Methods Six death cases were selected, and the contrast medium iohexol was injected under high pressure through femoral artery approach with 5F pigtail catheter to obtain coronary image data and then the data was analyzed. The results of targeted coronary imaging and coronary artery calcium score （CaS） were compared with the results of conventional autopsy and histopathological examination. Results The autopsy and histopathological examination of cases with coronary artery stenosis obtained similar results in targeted coronary angiography, with a diagnostic concordance rate of 83.3%. Targeted coronary angiography could effectively show coronary artery diseases, and the CaS was consistent with the results of conventional autopsy and histopathological examination. Conclusion Targeted coronary angiography can be used as an effective auxiliary method for conventional autopsy in cases of sudden cardiac death.

Keywords

• |forensic pathology|coronary heart disease|sudden death|postmortem computed tomography angiography （pmcta）|coronary angiography|coronary artery calcium score （cas）|5f pigtail catheter