Background: Despite post-mortem examination and autopsy, many cases of sudden infant death (SID) remain unexplained. The aim of this study was to assess usefulness of CT-scan in the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Population: Twenty-three cases of SIDS had a post-mortem CT-scan evaluation of skull and brain. The pictures were retrospectively reviewed by several independent radiologists who were unaware of the circumstances of death and results of autopsy.
Results: Aspects of pneumatocele, probably due to lumbar puncture were found in 6 cases. The subarachnoid spaces appeared inexplically hyperdense, as they were not correlated to the results of lumbar puncture and autopsy. The ventricles were normal in size or density. Density of the dural sinuses (superfical and deep) was often increased, an aspect possibly artefactual, due to post-mortem thrombosis. The cerebral parenchyma was often slighty hypodense; microcalcifications due to congenital toxoplasmosis were found in one case.
Conclusion: There was no correlation between the CT-scan imaging and the delay of death and lumbar puncture. Infants with or without subarachnoid hemorrage had the same CT scan findings. The CT-scan has a poor value when autopsy is performed; in its absence, it could be useful for diagnosing post-traumatic intracerebral hematoma.