SynthesisLa Radiologia medica2019
Postmortem computed tomography angiography (PMCTA) and traditional autopsy in cases of sudden cardiac death due to coronary artery disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in La Radiologia medica, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Immunohistochemical Assessment of Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Multiphase post-mortem CT angiography (MPMCTA) in sudden natural death: diagnostic contribution and workflow impact in a forensic autopsy series.Forensic science, medicine, and pathology · 2026Article
- Postmortem CT: Applications in Clinical and Forensic Medicine.Radiographics : a review publication of the Radiological Society of North America, Inc · 2025Review
- Post-mortem Cardiac MRI in Sudden Cardiac Death: The Interesting Intertwining of Radiology and Histology to Diagnose Arrhythmic Death or Myocardial Infarction.Current medical imaging · 2025Article
- The ASAP study: association of atherosclerosis with pathobiology in a caucasian cohort-a study of 3400 autopsy reports.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Challenges and Complications in the Management of Advanced Oropharyngeal Carcinoma: Role of Post-Mortem Diagnosis and Future Perspectives.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Bleeding-Source Exploration in Subdural Hematoma: Observational Study on the Usefulness of Postmortem Computed Tomography Angiography.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Atypical Fentanyl Transdermal Patch Consumption and Fatalities: Case Report and Literature Review.Toxics · 2022Article
- Post-mortem computer tomography in ten cases of death while diving: a retrospective evaluation.La Radiologia medica · 2022Article
- Sudden Cardiac Death and Ex-Situ Post-Mortem Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Morphological Study Based on Diagnostic Correlation Methodology.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Mapping Biological Risks Related to Necropsy Activities: Old Concerns and Novel Issues for the Safety of Health Professionals.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Atypical antipsychotics and oxidative cardiotoxicity: review of literature and future perspectives to prevent sudden cardiac death.Journal of geriatric cardiology : JGC · 2021Article
- Role of induced pluripotent stem cells in diagnostic cardiology.World journal of stem cells · 2021Review
- CCTA in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease.La Radiologia medica · 2020Review
- Cardiac magnetic resonance in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathies.La Radiologia medica · 2020Review
- Clinical Relevance of Unexpected Findings of Post-Mortem Computed Tomography in Hospitalized Patients: An Observational Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Observational
- Post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) radiological findings and assessment in advanced decomposed bodies.La Radiologia medica · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionSeveral studies have been performed to assess the efficacy of postmortem computed tomography angiography (PMCTA) in solving cases of sudden cardiac death, even in comparison with the traditional autopsy. However, the results were often inconsistent and inconclusive. Therefore, a global discussion on the subject through a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis is necessary.
methodsA systematic search of PubMed was performed up to April 23, 2018. Studies exploring the role of PMCTA in cases of sudden cardiac death and the accuracy of this method in diagnosing the cause of death compared to traditional autopsy were included.
resultsThe overall sensitivity and specificity of the seven included studies, using conventional autopsy as a reference standard, were 92% and 95%, respectively. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were, respectively, 20.76 (95% CI 1.16-370.2) and 0.08 (95% CI 0.03-0.17), showing that PMCTA represents a strong indicator of the posttest probability of disease. The diagnostic odds ratio and the area under the curve were, respectively, 261.54 (95% CI 1.87-5760.53) and 0.93 (95% CI 0.90-0.95), indicating a high diagnostic power of the test.
conclusionPMCTA demonstrated a high accuracy in the diagnosis of parietal and luminal coronary changes but was less effective in detecting myocardial ischemia and necrosis. Therefore, the only radiological investigation is often insufficient to determine the cause of sudden death and the conventional autopsy remains the gold standard. However, PMCTA can improve the performance of the autopsy, serving as an aid and guide in the sampling phase for histopathological investigations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.