Key result
Molecular autopsy and postmortem genetic analyses are important examinations capable of detecting inherited arrhythmias or metabolic diseases causing sudden death, especially in infants and young people.
Why the study?
Standard postmortem examinations can reveal morphological abnormalities, but non-morphological causes of sudden death such as inherited arrhythmias require molecular autopsy and postmortem genetic analyses.
Molecular autopsy is an essential tool in death investigations for sudden death cases without morphological abnormalities, helping to identify inherited genetic risks for surviving family members.
May support molecular autopsy for non-morphological deaths; leaves open standardized integration into forensic systems.
Japan has various death investigation systems; however, external examinations, postmortem computed tomography, macroscopic examinations, and microscopic examinations are performed regardless of the system used. These examinations can reveal morphological abnormalities, whereas the cause of death in cases with non-morphological abnormalities can be detected through additional examinations. Molecular autopsy and postmortem genetic analyses are important additional examinations. They are capable of detecting inherited arrhythmias or inherited metabolic diseases, which are representative non-morphological disorders that cause sudden death, especially in infants and young people. In this review, we introduce molecular autopsy reports from Japan and describe our experience with representative cases. The relationships between drug-related deaths and genetic variants are also reviewed. Based on the presented information, molecular autopsy is expected to be used as routine examinations in death investigations because they can provide information to save new lives.
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YAMAMOTO et al. (2023) conducted a review in Sudden death. Molecular autopsy was evaluated. Molecular autopsy and postmortem genetic analyses are important examinations capable of detecting inherited arrhythmias or metabolic diseases causing sudden death, especially in infants and young people.
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