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Undiagnosed acromegaly as an underlying cause of sudden death
- Source :
- Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology. 17:322-326
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021.
-
Abstract
- We report a case of sudden death in a 31-year-old male diagnosed at autopsy with clinical undiagnosed acromegaly. The purpose of this report is to underline the importance of health professionals reacting to phenotypic acromegaly, such as acral enlargement and/or unexplained hypertension, including a range of severe comorbidities, to avoid a fatal outcome. Recent studies have shown that the increased mortality seen in acromegaly patients can be reversed with modern treatment aimed at normalizing GH and IGF-I levels. One year before death, the presented case was diagnosed with hypertension, but was otherwise described as healthy. The forensic autopsy, including post-mortem CT, showed phenotypic facial and body characteristics for acromegaly, general visceromegaly, and a pituitary tumor. The cause of death was heart failure due to end-stage acromegalic cardiopathy. Because the disease is slowly progressive, the individual himself, and the people close to him, might not have considered the acromegaly-related facial changes as abnormal.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Pediatrics
medicine.medical_specialty
Autopsy
Disease
01 natural sciences
Sudden death
Pathology and Forensic Medicine
Death, Sudden
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Acromegaly
medicine
Humans
030216 legal & forensic medicine
Cause of death
Heart Failure
Human Growth Hormone
business.industry
010401 analytical chemistry
Pituitary tumors
General Medicine
medicine.disease
0104 chemical sciences
Heart failure
business
Visceromegaly
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15562891 and 1547769X
- Volume :
- 17
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....797e2481492c077a2487b70b8cd095b1