This volume covers aspects of sudden infant and early childhood death, ranging from issues with parental grief, to the most recent theories of brainstem neurotransmitters. It also deals with the changes that have occurred over time with the definitions of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), SUDI (sudden unexpected death in infancy) and SUDIC (sudden unexpected death in childhood). The text will be indispensable for SIDS researchers, SIDS organisations, paediatric pathologists, forensic pathologists, paediatricians and families, in addition to residents in training programs that involve paediatrics. It will also be of use to other physicians, lawyers and law enforcement officials who deal with these cases, and should be a useful addition to all medical examiner/forensic, paediatric and pathology departments, hospital and university libraries on a global scale. Given the marked changes that have occurred in the epidemiology and understanding of SIDS and sudden death in the very young over the past decade, a text such as this is very timely and is also urgently needed.

Crib death or sudden infant death syndrome is the most frequent death-causing syndrome during the first year of life, striking one infant in every 700-1,000. Despite a wide spectrum of theories and years of research, crib death remains a great enigma. This book describes systematic studies of the cardiovascular system and autonomic nervous system carried out in a large number of infants, newborns, and fetuses who have died suddenly and unexpectedly, as well as in age-matched control cases. The cardiovascular and neuropathological findings are presented in detail and the relationship between crib death and unexplained perinatal death is discussed. This monograph will aid pathologists, forensic pathologists, pediatricians, obstetricians and neonatologists in recognizing all potential morphological substrata. It puts forward a well-researched standardized postmortem protocol to be applied in all cases of sudden unexpected infant and perinatal death.

Crib death (SIDS) is the most frequent cause of death for infants during the first year. A systematic study of the autonomic nervous system and cardiac system has been performed on a large number of infants and fetuses who died suddenly and unexpectedly, as well as in age-matched control cases. The neurological and cardiac findings are described here, and the relationship between SIDS and unexplained fetal death is discussed.

The term sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) was first proposed in 1969 in order to focus attention on a subgroup of infants with similar clinical features whose deaths occurred unexpectedly in the postnatal period. Today the definition of SIDS refers to death in a seemingly healthy infant younger than 1 year of age whose death remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation including a complete autopsy, review of medical and clinical history, and death scene investigation. SIDS is typically associated with a sleep period with death presumed to have occurred during sleep itself or in the transition between sleep and waking. This led to application of the terms “cot” or “crib” death; however, these terms are rarely used today. Furthermore, while the definition is inclusive of infants up to 1 year of age, approximately 95% of SIDS deaths occur in the first six months of life with a peak incidence in infants aged between 2 to 4 months. While there are distinctive features associated with the syndrome there are no diagnostic features that can be attributed to a SIDS death. Indeed, application of the term relies on a process of elimination and when no known cause of death or contributing factors can be determined, the term SIDS is usually applied. Thus, an attempt has been made in this informative E-Booklet to present an ongoing debate, comprehensively, regarding the definition and use of the term SIDS, since no one definition has been universally accepted, but still one certainty persists, and that is that SIDS still remains a diagnosis of exclusion. …Dr. H. K. Saboowala. M.B.(Bom) .M.R.S.H.(London)