Idiopathic giant cell myocarditis should be considered as a potential cause of unexplained sudden death in healthy adults during autopsy.
IGCM warrants consideration in unexplained sudden adult deaths; this Level 5 case series leaves open its true incidence and diagnostic standardization.
Giant cell myocarditis is also known as ‘Granulomatous myocarditis’, of which Idiopathic giant cell myocarditis (IGCM) is a rare clinicopathological entity. IGCM is known to cause sudden death in healthy adults in the absence of any symptomatic heart disease. While performing autopsies if there is no apparent cause of death the autopsy surgeon must keep in mind IGCM, especially in healthy adults with an unexplained sudden death. We report here series of two cases of unexpected sudden death in an undiagnosed heart disease and the utility of histopathological diagnosis after autopsy when other ancillary techniques are unavailable.
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Patil et al. (2015) studied this question.
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