Pathology Resources
The multi-disciplinary team has been described as the central component to all ICC services. All ICC services should have access to specialist cardiac pathology expertise to provide input into their patient discussions, especially in those cases where there has been a sudden/unexpected death of likely cardiac aetiology.
The UK Cardiac Pathology Network (UKCPN, https://ukcpn.org/) is a network of consultant pathologists providing a heart referral service and promoting education through our annual meeting, trainee events and bursaries and the cardiac external quality assessment (EQA) programme. They aim to promote best practice in the pathological investigation of cardiovascular disease and sudden death of probable cardiac origin, worldwide. The UKCPN includes individuals with expertise in cardiac transplantation, post-surgical pathology, autopsy pathology and death investigation more generally and their website and educational YouTube sites are below:
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http://www.youtube.com/@ukcardiacpathologynetwork3093
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The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) produces guidelines to support the work of Autopsy and Specialist Cardiac Pathologists and these can be found via the RCPath website:
Guidelines-on-autopsy-practice-Sudden-death-with-likely-cardiac-pathology.pdf
Tissue-pathways-for-cardiovascular-pathology.pdf
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Members of the ICC team should be aware of the NHS-C-SUD (NHS and Coronial Service Sudden Unexpected Death) programme (schematic below) which is a national transformative initiative in England, connecting coroners with NHS clinical services to identify families at risk of inherited cardiac conditions (ICCs) following a sudden unexpected death.
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This is an NHS endeavour with project management support provided by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and a national oversight board that includes representation from the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) and the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY).
A summary of this programme, the pilot evaluation and plans for expansion can be found via the BHF website:
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