TABLE 1.

Cause of death categories

Body system	Guidelines
Cardiovascular	Including heart, great vessels,  pulmonary veins, venae cavae, and  shunt
Pulmonary
Parenchymal	eg, Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Vascular	eg, Pulmonary vascular obstructive  disease
Airway	eg, Airway occlusion, bronchospasm
Gastrointestinal/hepatic	Including necrotizing enterocolitis
Renal
Hematologic	Including documented  hypercoagulable state
Surgical complication	Documented technical misadventure  directly related to surgical  procedure (ie, lacerating the aorta  or heart on resternotomy, autopsy  proven stenosis of the coronary  anastomosis). Surgical  complications would not include  routine risks of surgery.
Catheterization complication	Documented technical complication  directly related to catheterization  procedure (ie, perforating the left  atrium, or rupturing the pulmonary  artery). Catheterization  complications would not include  routine risks of catheterization.
Multisystem organ failure  Infectious etiology  Unknown/other etiology
Infectious
Other	Used when a specific cause of death is  known, but it does not meet one of  the categories on the list (eg, car  accident).
Unknown	The cause of death is unknown due to  lack of information, or a single  causative etiology cannot be  determined.