Cardiology in the Young

Table of Contents - 2006 - Volume 16, Issue 01  


Brief Report

Post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging provides the diagnosis following aortic rupture in an infant with treated aortic interruption

Andrew M. Taylor a1c1, Rod Jones a2 and Graham Derrick a1
a1 Cardiothoracic Unit, Institute of Child Health & Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, United Kingdom
a2 Department of Radiology, Institute of Child Health & Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, United Kingdom

Article author query
taylor am   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
jones r   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
derrick g   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 

Abstract

In the United Kingdom, there has been a steady decline in the number of conventional autopsies performed in children. For cardiovascular disease, structural and not pathological considerations are often more important in defining the cause of death. Magnetic resonance imaging is now often used in the assessment of congenital cardiac malformations during life. In this case report, we demonstrate how post-mortem magnetic resonance imaging was able to establish the diagnosis of aortic rupture in a patient who had undergone surgical repair of aortic interruption. In this patient, the parents had declined conventional histopathological autopsy, but were happy to consent to magnetic resonance post-mortem assessment.

(Accepted August 15 2005)


Key Words: Necroscopy; non-invasive imaging; congenital cardiac disease; great vessels.

Correspondence:
c1 Correspondence to: Andrew M. Taylor MD, MRCP, FRCR, Senior Clinical Lecturer in Cardiovascular MR, Cardiothoracic Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Great Ormond Street, London WC1N 3JH, UK. Tel: +44 207 404 5094; Fax: +44 207 813 8263; E-mail: a.taylor@ich.ucl.ac.uk

Related Content