Publikation
Sudden death due to a haemoglobin variant
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel/Review - 21.11.2003
Bock H, Seidl S, Hausmann Roland, Betz P
Bereiche
PubMed
DOI
Zitation
Art
Zeitschrift
Veröffentlichungsdatum
ISSN (Druck)
Seiten
Kurzbeschreibung/Zielsetzung
A previous healthy 35-year-old man was found dead in his truck. Shortly before death he merely complained of influenza-like symptoms. The histological examination revealed evidence of a massive accumulation of sickle cells in smaller blood vessels. After molecular genetic analysis, the preliminary diagnosis of "sickle cell disease" was finally changed to the diagnosis of a sickle cell trait. It is presumed that an epileptic attack which also has to be considered as a concurring cause of death, precipitated sickling of the erythrocytes and led to a fatal sickle cell crisis.