Postmortem Genetic Testing in Sudden Unexpected Death: A Narrative Review

Sudden unexpected death (SUD) is one of the challenging situations encountered in forensic medicine. As a rule, a comprehensive forensic assessment is performed to identify the cause of death in such cases; however, the absence of findings suggestive of a cause, i.e., a negative autopsy, warrants further investigation such as a molecular autopsy. In this review, we aim to highlight the genetic causes of SUD, tools used in a molecular autopsy, and the role of screening in surviving relatives. As per several guidelines, the most preferred samples for DNA extraction are whole blood and fresh frozen tissues. Furthermore, Sanger sequencing and next-generation sequencing are the technologies that are used for genetic analysis; the latter overcomes the former’s drawbacks in terms of cost-effectiveness, time consumption, and the ability to sequence the whole exome. SUD have diverse etiologies; we can generally classify them into cardiac and non-cardiac causes. Regarding cardiac causes, many conditions having an underlying genetic basis are included, such as channelopathies and cardiomyopathies. Regarding non-cardiac causes of SUD, the main etiologies are epilepsy and metabolic disorders. Nevertheless, it has been proposed that there is a genetic overlap between channelopathies, especially long QT syndromes and epilepsy. Additionally, fatty acid oxidation disorders are major metabolic conditions that are caused by certain genetic mutations that can lead to SUD in infancy. Since many SUD causes have an underlying genetic mutation, it is important to understand the genetic variations not only to recognize the cause of death but also to undertake further preventive measures for surviving relatives. In conclusion, a molecular autopsy has a major role in the forensic examination of cases of SUD.