Choking or Café Coronary Syndrome: A Series of Three Sudden Death Cases

Abstract

Death by Café' coronary syndrome is very rarely seen and at the same time challenging to interpret at the autopsy. We highlight the importance of autopsy in such cases and solve Café coronary at autopsy. Café coronary syndrome was first reported as sudden collapse at restaurants while dining. Death was attributed to neurogenic cardiac arrest due to food in the upper airway and reflex vagal inhibition. Many of those individuals had consumed large amounts of alcohol before the incident. We present a series of three cases of sudden death by Café coronary in which food accidentally lodged in upper airways and collapsed suddenly without showing signs of asphyxia. Different risk factors were observed in all cases, including obesity as one of the associated risk factors for such incidence. This paper underlines the significance of detailed autopsy and reliable history given by the witnesses related to death occurring by Café coronary syndrome.