Sudden death due to arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia: A medico-legal case report.

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) is characterized by progressive fibrofatty replacement of the myocardium that predisposes to ventricular tachycardia and sudden death in young individuals and athletes. The prevalence of ARVD/C is estimated as 1:1000 to 1:1250 in the general population. Although it is a relatively uncommon cause of sudden cardiac death, it accounts for up to one fifth of sudden cardiac death in people less than 35 years of age. Clinical presentation of ARVD/C usually consists of arrhythmias of right ventricular origin that include premature ventricular beats, sustained ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation that can lead to sudden death. The authors present a case of a 26 year old young male, carpenter by occupation, previously healthy, with sudden death. The internal and external postmortem findings were normal except for mild right ventricular hypertrophy. But histo-pathological examination of heart tissues revealed replacement of myocardial tissue with mature fibrofatty tissue. The following medico-legal autopsy case is being reported for its rarity and the importance of histopathology to find out the cause of death.

Pattern of fatal blunt head injury: A two year retrospective / prospective medico legal autopsy study.

The current study was conducted from 1 November 2002 to 31 October 2004 at Topiwala National Medical College & BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, Mumbai. A total of 189 victims of fatal blunt head injury were recorded and a complete medicolegal autopsy was conducted on each of these victims during this period. The postmortem study revealed that males were the most common victims with the highest number being in the age group of the third and fourth decades. Accidents were responsible for most of them, followed by homicidal deaths, with suicides recorded as the least. Of the accidents, railway accidents were responsible for the maximum number. The study revealed that the highest number of fatalities occurred during the peak hours of the day. The fissured fracture was the most common type of fracture observed. Among the specialized fractures of the base of the skull, type-1 hinge fracture was the most common. A combination of subdural and subarachnoid haemorrhages was the most common observation. Blunt cranio-cerebral injury was the primary cause of death in more than half of the victims