OBJECTIVETo compare clinicopathological characteristics of coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with or without sudden coronary death (SCD) .

METHODSA total of 145 autopsy cases with CAD were divided into SCD group (38 cases) and non-SCD group (107 cases). The difference on age, number of diseased coronary vessel, coronary atherosclerotic stage (fatty streak stage, fibrous plaque stage and atheromatous plaque stage), composite lesions of coronary artery, grade of stenosis severity, acute myocardial infarction, old myocardial infarction, hypertensive cardiomyopathy, myocardial fatty infiltration and arteriosclerosis of the arteries on the base of the brain were compared between SCD group and non-SCD group.

RESULTS(1) Patients were older in SCD group than in non-SCD group [ (55.3 ± 14.5) years vs. (48.5 ± 13.3) years, P < 0.01]. (2) There was a significant positive correlation between coronary atherosclerotic stage and grade of coronary stenosis severity (rs = 0.79, P < 0.01) . (3) The rate of multiple vessel disease, coronary atherosclerotic stage, composite lesions of coronary artery, grade III-IV coronary artery stenosis, old myocardial infarction and arteriosclerosis of the arteries on the base of the brain were 60.5% (23/38) , 84.2% (32/38), 63.2% (24/38), 86.8% (33/38), 36.8% (14/38) and 34.2% (13/38), respectively in SCD group, which were significantly higher than those in non-SCD group [25.2% (27/107), 29.0% (31/107) , 18.7% (20/107), 19.6% (21/107), 3.7% (4/107) and 6.5% (7/107), respectively, all P < 0.01].

CONCLUSIONCoronary artery atherosclerotic lesion is severer and patients are older in SCD patients than in non-SCD patients in this coronary artery disease patient cohort.