DNA: Heritable Channelopathies and Selected Cardiomyopathies – Postmortem Assessment

Sudden cardiac death, or death within 1h of losing consciousness, remains an extremely important cause of death. It is frequently due to arrhythmias-like ventricular fibrillation. The use of molecular autopsies helps the forensic pathologist determine the cause of death with a normal autopsy. We will outline ion channelopathies (heritable causes of sudden unexplained death syndrome) that may be uncovered including long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, short QT syndrome, and early repolarization syndrome. Finally, we will discuss genetic disorders of the heart muscle that cause sudden death including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia.