SUDDEN, UNEXPECTED DEATH IN SUBJECTS WITH UNDIAGNOSED GLIOMAS

We report two cases in which a medicolegal autopsy disclosed small and previously undiagnosed gliomas. The first case was a 38-year-old woma n who was found dead in bed; her autopsy revealed a 1.3-cm low-grade a strocytoma in the right subthalamic area. The second case involved a 3 2-year-old man who drowned in shallow water after his canoe capsized. A 0.5-cm oligodendroglioma of the left temporal lobe and a 0.1-cm gang lionic hamartoma of the hypothalamus were found. In both cases the tum ors may, directly or indirectly, have been the underlying cause of dea th. We emphasize the importance of a thorough neuropathological examin ation for all cases of sudden unexpected death in which no extracerebr al cause of death has been found.