What Autopsy Reveals About MINOCA and Sudden Cardiac Death | JACC Baran

Hosts Mitsuaki Sawano, MD, Kentaro Ejiri, MD, Hiroyuki Sato, MD, and Shun Kosaka, MD welcome Dr. Kosuke Nakasuka, MD, PhD to discuss his JACC study, Sudden Cardiac Death Due to Myocardial Infarction With Obstructive and Nonobstructive Coronary Arteries. Using one of the world's most comprehensive population-based autopsy cohorts, this study challenges a decades-old assumption that myocardial infarction accounts for nearly 80% of sudden cardiac death. The conversation explores why autopsy remains the gold standard for uncovering the true causes of sudden death, what these findings reveal about MINOCA and right coronary artery infarction, and how survivor bias may have shaped our current understanding of sudden cardiac death and ICD risk stratification.