Left ventricular hypertrophy is the
second leading cause of sudden cardiac death in adults in India
- Longstanding raised high blood
pressure causes secondary damage to the wall of the left ventricle, the
main pumping chamber of the heart. Hypertrophy is associated with cardiac
arrhythmias.
- The mechanism of death in a
majority of patients dying of sudden cardiac death is ventricular
fibrillation and as a consequence there may be no prodromal symptoms
associated with the death. These patients may be going about their daily
business and suddenly collapse without the typical features of myocardial
infarction such as chest pain and shortness of breath. There are a number
of cases in which patients feel the effect of myocardial ischemia.
(Myocardial ischemia is associated with referred pain, classically to the
front of the chest, the left arm and the jaw. Patients may feel generally
unwell, with nausea, dizziness and vomiting).
- These symptoms may precede the
death for any length of time between a few minutes and several hours.
I have conducted the postmortem
examination of four cases who were found dead in toilet during daily pursuits;
these were cases of left ventricular hypertrophy that led to sudden death.
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