Sudden death: Following metastasis from carcinoma of breast.

ABSTRACT

We report a case on sudden death brought to the Department of Forensic Medicine, Gauhati medical college, Assam. Death was due to syncope as a result of cardiac tamponade due to pericardial effusion following metastasis from carcinoma of breast. Death from cardiac tamponade following carcinoma breast is not a usual finding on the autopsy table. These sudden deaths make forensic pathologists aware of the course of natural diseases. Cardiovascular diseases accounts for vast majority of cases and certain neoplasm may also present as sudden death. Malignancy of breast is one of the commonest malignancies in females and often it presents late with metastasis to the underlying organs. The importance of autopsy lies here in the fact that it alleviates the doubts in the minds of the relatives of the deceased and relieves the law of the burden of un-necessary investigations. Moreover, role of pathology in Forensic Medicine in such cases is inevitable in establishing the cause of death.