Question

A man, en route to the hospital by ambulance, is in fibrillation. He arrives DOA (dead on arrival); the autopsy reveals a blockage of the posterior interventricular artery. What is the cause of death?

Answer 1

The cause of his death would be myocardial Infraction.

Explanation:

Atrial fibrillation is irregular heartbeat that can lead to heart failure, strokes, blood clots or any other cardiac complications. Its been said that the man experienced fibrillation when he was on the way to hospital in ambulance from this we can infer that in this stage his cardiac output would be zero or less.

This may lead to myocardial infraction, the so called heart-attack. MI occurs when a part of the heart lacks oxygen due to blockage of coronary artery that supplies the heart with pure blood (oxygenated blood).

The major factors that cause myocardial infraction are namely active smoking, old-age, high blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein or diabetes mellitus.

It is given that the autopsy resulted that the man had a blockage of the posterior interventricular artery, so from this we can conclude that the cause of death is myocardial infraction.