Sudden natural death

Natural death happens. It must be differentiated from other ways of dying (suicide, homicide, accidental).

By system

Respiratory

• Anaphylaxis.
• Asthma.
• Pulmonary embolism.

Cerebral

• SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy).

Cardiac

• Atherosclerotic heart disease (ASHD); AKA coronary artery disease (CAD).
• Right ventricular cardiomyopathy.
• Arrhythmia.

Detailed cardiac

• CAD, hypertrophic CM.
• Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC).
• Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
• Lymphocytic myocarditis.
• Floppy mitral valve (MV).
• Aortic valve stenosis.
• Congenital cardiac abnormality.
• Coronary artery dissection.
• Aortic dissection.
• Arrhythmia.
  • Long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, short QT syndrome, catecholaminergic polymorphic VT, anomalous conduction pathways, dysplasia of nodal arteries, atrioventricular node tumour.

By mechanism

Hemorrhagic

• Ruptured AAA.
• Peptic ulcer.
• Cerebral aneurysm.

See also

• Forensic pathology.