Sudden cardiac death （SCD）, most commonly seen in coronary heart disease, is a kind of sudden death caused by series of cardiac parameters, which usually combines with myocardial infarction. However, some SCDs （including early myocardial infarction） happen suddenly and cause death in a very short time. In these circumstances, typical morphological changes are lack in macroscopic or microscopic fields, which make such SCDs become the emphasis and difficulty in the present research. SCD caused by myocardial infarction and abnormalities of cardiac conduction system （CCS） is related to atherosclerosis of coronary artery closely. This paper reviews cardiac dysfunction caused by myocardial infarction and diseases of CCS from morphology and molecular biology, and explores potential relationship between them. This paper aims to provide clues to the mechanism of myocardial infarction related sudden death and possible assistance for forensic diagnosis of SCD.
Keywords: cardiac conduction system; coronary disease; death, sudden, cardiac; forensic pathology; myocardial infarction; review.
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