Acute Coronary Findings at Autopsy in Heart Failure Patients With Sudden Death

Abstract

Background —Sudden unexpected death frequently occurs in chronic heart failure. The importance of acute coronary events in triggering sudden death (SD) is unclear. Methods and Results —We evaluated at autopsy the prevalence of acute coronary findings (coronary thrombus, ruptured plaque, or myocardial infarction [MI]) and their relation to SD. Autopsy results in 171 patients in the randomized ATLAS trial were reviewed. The prevalence of acute coronary findings was 33%: in 54% of patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD) who died suddenly, 32% who died of myocardial failure, but in non-CAD patients, they were present in only 5% and 10% respectively. The percentage of patients classified as dying of MI was 28% in the autopsy group versus 4% in the nonautopsied group ( P Conclusions —Acute coronary findings are frequent and usually not clinically diagnosed in heart failure patients with CAD, particularly in those dying suddenly, suggesting the importance of acute coronary events as a trigger for SD in this setting.