Sudden death due to metastasizing intravenous leiomyoma: a case report

Object of the present article is the case of a 43 year-old woman that, about half an hour later experiencing a temporary loss of consciousness during a family trip, suddenly died. There was nothing relevant in the anamnestic data apart that she underwent a similar lipothymic attack three days before. The significative autopsy findings were a thrombotic mass occupying the whole lumen of the inferior vena cava, extending for all the vein length to the heart, and a voluminous uterine neoformation, with intramural extension. Histological investigation revealed a metastasizing intravenous leiomyoma, likely to originate from a pre-existent uterine leiomyoma. The purpose of this article is to describe such a uncommon metastasizing intravenous leiomyoma case recognized through a joint approach of legal medicine investigations and histopatologic examinations.