]> 2026-07-31T11:51:56+00:00 WBR0456 0 en Arrhythmia Patients with HOCM die at young age due to ventricular fibrillation, a fatal arrhythmia. Myocardial infarction Patients with HOCM do not usually die from myocardial infarction. The disease is caused by atherosclerotic plaques that occlude coronary arteries. Typically, myocardial infarction is a common cause of death in patients of older age groups with cardiovascular risk factors, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, smoking, and hyperlipidemia. Myocardial infarction at young age, however, can be seen in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), an autosomal dominant disorder caused by absent LDL receptors on hepatocytes. Cardiac tamponade Cardiac tamponade is a pericardial disease characterized by pericardial effusion that is large enough to cause constrictive force on cardiac chambers, eventually equalizing the pressures in all cardia chambers. Cardiac tamponade is characterized by chest pain that is relieved when sitting forward, hypotension, jugular venous distension, and pulsus paradoxus. Myocarditis Myocarditis is an inflammatory cardiomyopathy that could be of infectious or non-infectious causes. Most cases of myocarditis are in fact of viral origin due to coxsackie B virus. Stroke Stroke is not a common cause of death in young patients. Patients with atrial fibrillation are mostly at risk of stroke. Pathology A 30-year-old athletic man is brought to the emergency department in cardiac arrest. The family informs the physician that multiple members of the family died at a young age. Despite resuscitation attempts, the patient is declared dead. During autopsy, the pathologist explains that the patient had a disarray of myocyte organization due to a mutation of the sarcomere gene. Which of the following is the most likely cause of death in this patient? A Cardiology 2020-10-28T00:37:53Z 2459150.5263079 WBR0456