Causes and mechanisms of sudden cardiac death in children

The paper presents basic morphological criteria of the diagnosis of sudden cardiac death related to different diseases in young people. Attention is drawn to cardiomyopathies, channelopathies, connective tissue dysplasias, Marfan syndrome with cystic medial necrosis, sudden arrhythmic death. Initiating events in sudden cardiac death are discussed. Besides morphological manifestations, the paper dwells upon major genetic events and clinical presentation of the diseases. It is based on both existing publications and own data.