Possible To Die Suddenly? No Heart Attack. Tests Show Heart Disease But Had No Symptoms

Posted on Fri, 22 Mar 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 Answered on

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : is it possible for a 38 year old to simply drop dead within seconds he was on the face of it a very fit and lively man the first post mortem was inconclusive coronor said he had not had heart attack and sent for further tests result being heart desease but he was phycically fit and had no symptoms whatsoever i am very confused

Answered by Dr. Anantharamakrishnan (2 hours later)

Hi friend,
Welcome to Health Care Magic

Sorry to hear this...
It is very much possible and not uncommon...
The usual cause in such cases is heart attack, but it is not the only one.

Arrhythmia - disorder of the heart's rhythm - is the next common event. Ventricular fibrillation (or ventricular tachycardia) are the common ones.
Electro-mechanical disassociation can occur at times - the pump fails despite normal rhythm - there may not be any clues in the post-mortem in such a case.
Some cases of Cardiomyopathy (diseases of heart muscle) may be responsible..
Rupture of aneurysm, dissection of a blood vessel and so on are also likely

Take care
Wishing speedy recovery
God bless
Good luck

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar