An autopsy case of sudden infant death caused by cardiac fibroma

Abstract

A one-month-old girl in good health being carried by her mother in a baby carrier suddenly went into cardiac arrest. She was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead. A forensic autopsy was performed. On the heart, which weighed 63.6 g, a single large, well-defined, round, white tumor was observed in the left ventricular wall. Tumor cells with spindle-shaped small nuclei proliferated along with collagen fiber proliferation. The diagnosis was cardiac fibroma. The tumor had compressed the left bundle branch, causing fatal arrhythmia and death. This case report describes sudden infant death caused by a primary cardiac fibroma, diagnosed postmortem.