Case Reports Forensic Pathology 2024 Exercise 2: The Smallest Tumor Associated with Sudden Death

Author

Joshua Smith, DO

Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office

Kansas City, Missouri

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:

·         review the cardiac conduction pathway to explain the pathophysiology of tumors and conditions that lead to fatal arrhythmias;

·         discuss important considerations in examining hearts in cases of sudden cardiac death to recognize relatively common pathologies and anatomic variants implicated in such cases;

·         use internal landmarks to properly dissect out the sinoatrial and atrioventricular (AV) nodes in appropriate cases; and

·         describe the histologic and immunophenotypic features of cystic tumor of the AV node and use them to resolve the differential diagnosis with other entities.