[Forensic medicine aspects of sudden death in sports]

Our study which deals with cases examined by the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Geneva, of sudden nontraumatic death while engaged in sporting activities, covers the last fifteen years from 1980 to 1994. We discovered 31 cases, all males, aged between 17 and 68 years. There were 15 cases of young sportsmen (under the age of 45-50) where the cause of death was unclear, and where an autopsy was requested by the police and 16 cases, where we were asked to make an external examination of the bodies, in order to exclude any signs of violence. Of the 15 autopsies, 10 sportsmen presented signs of myocardial infarction and 2 showed evidence of hemorrhage in an atheromatous plaque. Five cases showed evidence of previous myocardial infarctions. The youngest victim was a 17-year-old boy with previously diagnosed obstructive cardiomyopathy.