Oblivion: autopsy findings of a 31-year-old man with sudden cardiac arrest, a case report of a sequalae of Kawasaki disease

Daniel Fernando Gallego; Maria Eugenia Zuluaga Ruiz; Desiree Ann Marshall

doi:10.4322/acr.2021.404

Oblivion: autopsy findings of a 31-year-old man with sudden cardiac arrest, a case report of a sequalae of Kawasaki disease

Autops Case Rep. 2022 Oct 19:12:e2021404. doi: 10.4322/acr.2021.404. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Daniel Fernando Gallego¹, Maria Eugenia Zuluaga Ruiz², Desiree Ann Marshall³

Affiliations

¹ University of New Mexico, Office of the Medical Investigator, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
² Universidad del Valle, Grupo de Investigación en Rehabilitación de la Universidad del Valle, Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia.
³ University of Washington, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Seattle, Washington, United States.

Abstract

A 31-year-old man presented to the hospital after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. Despite optimal therapy, the patient passed away. His medical history included febrile rash at age 2. At autopsy, there was aneurysmal dilation and severe coronary artery stenosis by atherosclerotic plaques and myocardial fibrosis. These findings were presumed to be due to complications of Kawasaki disease, given the remote history of severe febrile rash as a toddler and the presence of chronic coronary artery injury, recanalization, and thrombosis with ischemic heart disease leading to sudden cardiac collapse and death.

Keywords: Coronary Aneurysm; Coronary Disease; Death, Sudden; Forensic Pathology; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome.

Publication types

Case Reports