Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T13:23:26.236Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cot death and myocarditis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2008

Caroline Rambaud ,
Cécile Cieuta ,
Danielle Canioni ,
Christine Rouzioux ,
Jean Lavaud ,
Philippe Hubert ,
Nicole Brousse ,
Michelle Rudler  and
Gérard Chéron
Caroline Rambaud*
Affiliation:
Center de Reference pour l'étude de la Mort Subite du Nourrisson et Center d'Urgence et de Diagnostic Rapide, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Maladesparis Paris and the Institut Universitaire de Médecine LégaleParis
Cécile Cieuta
Affiliation:
Center de Reference pour l'étude de la Mort Subite du Nourrisson et Center d'Urgence et de Diagnostic Rapide, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Maladesparis
Danielle Canioni
Affiliation:
Center de Reference pour l'étude de la Mort Subite du Nourrisson et Center d'Urgence et de Diagnostic Rapide, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Maladesparis
Christine Rouzioux
Affiliation:
Center de Reference pour l'étude de la Mort Subite du Nourrisson et Center d'Urgence et de Diagnostic Rapide, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Maladesparis
Jean Lavaud
Affiliation:
Center de Reference pour l'étude de la Mort Subite du Nourrisson et Center d'Urgence et de Diagnostic Rapide, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Maladesparis
Philippe Hubert
Affiliation:
Center de Reference pour l'étude de la Mort Subite du Nourrisson et Center d'Urgence et de Diagnostic Rapide, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Maladesparis
Nicole Brousse
Affiliation:
Center de Reference pour l'étude de la Mort Subite du Nourrisson et Center d'Urgence et de Diagnostic Rapide, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Maladesparis
Michelle Rudler
Affiliation:
Paris and the Institut Universitaire de Médecine LégaleParis
Gérard Chéron
Affiliation:
Center de Reference pour l'étude de la Mort Subite du Nourrisson et Center d'Urgence et de Diagnostic Rapide, Hôpital Necker-Enfants Maladesparis
*
Dr, Caroline Rambaud, Anatonsie-Pathologique, Hôpital Necker-Enfanrs Malades, 149 rue de Sèvres, 75743 Paris Cedex 15,France. Tel.33-1-42738942; Fax. 33-1-42738950.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

We have investigated the hearts from 153 infants found dead in their cots at ages ranging from one month to one year. The deaths occurred over a period of five years (January 1986 to December 1990) and were studied in a center for the study of the sudden infant death syndrome located in Paris. The epidemiological characteristics of this group are:male predominance (sex ratio 1.43), age less than four months (82%), and a predominance of winter deaths. These are the characteristic features ofthe sudden infant death syndrome. Ofthe 143 children studied with the permission of their parents, 24 (16.8%–12 girls and 12 boys) had histological lesions consistentwith myocarditis according to the Dallas criteria. The histological diagnosis of myocarditis is based on the association of cellular necrosis with a mononuclear or mixed inflammatory infiltrate. Cytoplasmic vacuolization, the presence of inflammatory cells in myocytes, and rupture of the cell walls of myocardial fibres are the equivalent histological signs of cellular necrosis. Myocarditis was diversely associated with respiratory, hepatic, muscular, gastrointestinal and/or neurological involvement. Twelve infants had previously been ill. Two died during the course of a serious illness. In only four cases was a viral association demonstrated. This incidence of myocardial involvement, similar to thatdescribed elsewhere in the literature, suggests that myocarditis could be a pathogenic explanation of some deaths thought on general autopsy investigation to be sudden and unexplained.

Keywords

cot deathmyocarditispediatric autopsysudden infant death syndrome
Type
Original Articles
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , July 1992 , pp. 266 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Emery, JL.Is sudden infant death syndrome a diagnosis? Br Med J 1989; 299: 1240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. Rajs, JHammarquist, F. Sudden infant death in Stockholm. Acta Paediatr Scand 1988; 77:812–820.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Durigon, M.. Mort subite du nourrisson. In: Pathologie Medicolègale. Durigon, M. (ed). Masson, Paris, 1988, pp 119–126.Google Scholar
4. Dehan, M, Imbert, MC, Gautier, JP. Etude clinique et anatomopathologique de 59 cas de mort subite du nourrisson. Arch Fr Pediatr 1988; 45: 541–548.Google Scholar
5. Bouvier-Colle, MH, Inizan, J, Michel, E. Post neonatal mortality, Sudden infant death syndrome: factors preventing the decline of infant mortality in France from 1979 to 1985. Paediatr Perinatal Epidemiol 1989; 3: 250–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Bouvier-Colle, MH, Hatton, F, Inizan, J. Situation epidémiologique de la mort subite du nourrisson en France. In: Mort Subite du Nourrisson. Dehan, M, Gilly, R. (eds). Doin, Paris, 1989, pp 33–48.Google Scholar
7. Kibrick, S, Benirschke, K. Acute aseptic myocarditis and meningoencephalitis in the newborn child infected with coxsackie virus group B, type 3. N Engl J Med 1956; 255:883–889.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Coxsackie, B.. 5L virus infections during 1965.A report to the Director of the Public Health Laboratory Service from various laboratories in the United Kingdom. Br Med J 1967; 4: 575–577.Google Scholar
9. Burch, GE, Giles, TD.. The role of viruses in the production of heart disease. Am J Cardiol 1972; 29: 231–240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10. Heikkila, J, Karjalainen, J. Evaluation of mild acute infections myocarditis. Br Heart J 1982; 47: 381–391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11. Darcy, TP, Langloss, MA, Anderson, D, Robinowitz, M, Virmani, R.. The focal nature of myocarditis: A limiting factor in endomyocardial biopsy diagnosis. Lab Invest 1987; 56: 17A. [Abstract]Google Scholar
12. De Sa, DJ. Isolated myocarditis as a cause of sudden death in the first year of life. For Sci Int 1986; 30: 113–117.Google ScholarPubMed
13. Noren, CR, Staley, NA, Bandt, CH, Kaplan, EL.. Occurrence of myocarditis in sudden infant death in children. Circulation 1975; 51: 4. [ Abstract ]Google Scholar
14. Haas, JE. Myocarditis and sudden unexpected death in childhood. Pediatr Pathol 1988; 8: 443–446.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
15. Woodruff, JF. Viral myocarditis. Am J Pathol 1980; 101: 427–479.Google ScholarPubMed
16. Schmaltz, AA, Apitz, J, Hort, W, Maisch, B.. Endomyocardial biopsy in infants and children: Experience in 60 patients. Pediatr Cardiol 1990; 11: 15–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
17. Aretz, HT.. Myocarditis: the Dallas criteria. Hum Pathol 1987;18: 619–624.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18. Whitehead, R.. Isolated myocarditis. Br Heart J 1965; 27: 220–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19. Hauck, AJ, Kearney, DL, Edwards, WD.. Evaluation of post mortem endomyocardial biopsy specimens from 38 patients with lymphocytic myocarditis: implications for role of sampling error. Mayo Clin Proc 1989; 64: 1235–1245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20. Kotaka, M, Kitaura, Y, Deguchi, H, Kawamura, K.. Experimental Influenza A virus myocarditis in mice. Am J Pathol 1990; 136:409–419.Google ScholarPubMed
21. Cardiac biopsy in myocarditis.. Lancet 1990; 336: 283–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22. Linder, J, Cassling, RS, Rogler, WC.. Immunohistochemical characterization of lymphocytes in uninflamed ventricular myocardium. Implications for myocarditis. Arch Pathol Lab Med 1985; 109: 917–920.Google ScholarPubMed
23. Weinstein, C, Fenoglio, JJ. Myocarditis. Hum Pathol 1987; 18: 613–618.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed