Basement membrane thickness of the vocal cord in cases of sudden infant death

In 1991, 1994 and 1997 Shatz et al. reported on a specific and pathognomoni c basement membrane (BM) thickening of the vocal cord in cases of sudden in fant death syndrome (SIDS). In 40 cases of sudden and unexpected infant dea th the histological examination of the larynx was performed to identify pos sible differences between SID (n = 26) and non-SID (n = 14) cases. The diss ection technique of Hohmann (1963) and Maxeiner (1986) was modified for the infant's larynx. Since the normal range of the BM thickness of the vocal c ord for the age group younger than 1 year had not yet been exactly defined, a reference interval had to be established (0.5 mu m-2.0 mu m). In 2 SID a nd 1 non-SID cases a mean BM, thickness (BMT) of more than 2.0 mu m could b e estimated (2.38 mu m-2.95 mu m). The BMT in these cases appeared to be hi ghly variable and not harmonically thickened. None of the investigated regi ons of the BM (cranial to caudal thirds, ventral to dorsal areas) seemed to be prefered thickened. There was no statistically significant difference b etween the two groups. A specific thickening of the BM of the vocal cord in SID cases could not be confirmed. Therefore, BMT cannot be used as a diagn ostic postmortem marker for SID.