Case Reports Forensic Pathology 2023 Exercise 6: Sudden Death of an Asplenic Child with Acute Stomachache and Headache

Authors

Jordan Gower Decker, BS

Medical Student

College of Medicine

Virginia Livesay Richards, MD, MS

Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

Medical University of South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Primary Audience: Pathologists and Clinical Scientists
Secondary Audience: Residents, Laboratory Technologist/Scientist (Includes all sub-specialty areas), Students, Pathologist Assistants, Laboratory Directors and Educators

Upon completion of this activity, you will be able to:

·         formulate a working differential diagnosis for sudden death following acute abdominal pain and fever in the pediatric population;

·         identify postmortem ancillary studies to narrow down the differential in such cases;

·         identify the laboratory and autopsy findings that support a diagnosis of overwhelming post-splenectomy infection;

·         describe the significance of infection with encapsulated organisms in asplenic patients;

·         recognize the counseling and prophylactic measures that should be given to patients/patients’ families following a splenectomy; and

·         analyze the manner of death designation by incorporating the circumstances of the event/disease that started the fatal course.