SIDS Cases Explained through Metabolic Autopsy

Electrospray Tandem Mass Spectrometry for Analysis of Acylcarnitines in Dried Postmortem Blood Specimens Collected at Autopsy from Infants with Unexplained Cause of Death
Clinical Chemistry; June 2001

About the Report
A recent report in Clinical Chemistry (July 2001) stated that the metabolic autopsy can now provide answers to some sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases. Researchers report the ability to identify the cause of death in previously unexplained SIDS cases through the use of a newborn screening method, tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS).

Over 7,000 filter paper blood specimens were collected from medical examiners in the US and Canada for this study. The results showed that 66 specimens suggested that the infants had detectable metabolic disorders. The majority of the infants had MCAD, but infants with VLCAD, GA-I, GA-II, CPT-II, LCHAD, and IVA were also found.

This report sparked yet another outcry from affected families as they feel this report provides yet more data that children are not being screened at birth properly. Families are concerned that not only does failure to properly diagnose these disorders lead to these children's early deaths, a diagnoses of SIDS does not alert the family to the possibly of having more children with the same disorder (and what measures they can take to save these children's lives) or to the possibilities of existing siblings also being at risk for having the disease.

Conclusion
The report concluded that postmortem metabolic screening can explain numerous infant deaths and can provide estimates of the number of infant deaths that can be attributed to metabolic disorders.

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