Report from the CRY

Centre for Cardiac Pathology

(CRY CCP)

By Jemma Wells, Dr. Mary Sheppard’s medical secretary at the CRY CCP.

Dr Mary Sheppard Consultant Cardiac Pathologist

Jemma Wells Medical Secretary

Dr Sofia de Noronha Research Assistant

Saharnaz Vakhshouri Laboratory Technician

2011 has been a busy year for the CRY Centre for Cardiac Pathology with a further increase in referrals from coroners, important collaborative projects and publications as well as a continued profile at national and international conferences. Causes of sudden cardiac death The chart below shows the diagnoses that were made during September - December 2011 indicating that channelopathies predominate. In 2011, 143 of the 190 (75%) cases referred to the CRY Centre for Cardiac Pathology were diagnosed as having a normal heart indicating possible electrical abnormalities/ channelopathies.

The table above shows the number of sudden death cases referred each month since the centre was opened in March 2007. We have had our fifth successive increase in the number of cases referred for specialist examination by Dr Sheppard. This reflects coroners and pathologists increasing awareness of our service throughout the UK. Maintenance of 14 days turnaround In spite of this increase in numbers we have continued to maintain an average turnaround time of less than 14 days to prepare a report giving the cause of death after examination of the heart. This report is sent to the coroner who can then discuss the cause of death with the family. This enables the family to seek advice about further investigations if required. This is depicted in the line graph below, the red line shows clearly the 14 day threshold, and the blue line shows the monthly average turnaround time. This means that the coroner and family know the cause of death within 2 weeks of the CRY CCP receiving the heart.

18 • CRY update • Issue 56

Research In April 2011 Dr Hari Raju got his pilot genetics study underway in collaboration with the Royal Brompton Hospital and St George’s Hospital as detailed in the previous newsletter. As the year has progressed we have received an increasing number of samples for genetic analysis and we hope this will continue as more pathologists are aware of the importance of taking splenic tissue for potential future genetic testing. This is important in family screening.

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