A case of autopsy discovery of acute chest syndrome triggered by pulmonary embolism in a sickle cell patient

This is a case report about a 7-year-old male child with sickle cell anemia (S/β+) who died unexpectedly during hospitalization, justifying the performance of a forensic autopsy completed by histological examination of organ fragments and toxicological analyses of biological fluids. The diagnosis retained was pulmonary thromboembolism as the cause of death occurring in the context of an acute chest syndrome (ACS). The mechanism of occurrence of this pulmonary embolism was vascular stasis caused by sickle cell disease. The search for etiologies of ACS complicating sickle cell disease should not exclude pulmonary embolism with red cell dense fibrin clot..