Small aortic root as a cause of sudden death in a young adult: a controversial topic revisited.

Background: Sudden cardiac death over the age of 35 years is mostly due to coronary atherosclerosis, whereas under the age of 35 years, a variety of mainly congenital malformations prevail. However, hypoplasia of the aortic root in adults, first introduced by Laurie in 1968 as a cause of sudden cardiac death in adults, is never included.

Case Report: We present a case of a 29-year-old female who suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed during recreational bicycling. Ventricular fibrillation was recorded, but resuscitation attempts failed, and the patient was declared dead about 1 h after the event. Autopsy revealed cardiac hypertrophy with extensive scarring and a small aortic root (calculated inlet/outlet diameters=14.9/14.3 mm), without obstructive coronary artery disease or any other plausible cause for sudden cardiac death.

Conclusions: The observations strongly suggest that small aortic root (less than 2 cm in diameter) provided the background for cardiac hypertrophy and, eventually, myocardial ischemia and ventricular fibrillation. Pathologists should be aware of this possibility while evaluating cases of sudden cardiac death without an obvious pathologic substrate.