TABLE 1.

Search results

	Publication	Patients	Total n	n of patients with edema	% of patients with edema	Additional comments
1	Verducci et al. (2019)	Patients in the North American SUDEP Registry between October 2011 and July 2018 that received a full autopsy	130	6	5%
2	Hata et al. (2020)	Autopsy cases of two children with Dravet syndrome with novel de novo SCN1A variants dying from sudden unexpected death	2	1	50%	“advanced cerebral edema possibly associated with drowning or subsequent resuscitation”
3	Afandi & Romus (2018)	SUDEP in an adolescent after a generalized seizure	1	1	100%	“Brain tissue showed stromal oedema and dilation of the blood vessels.”
4	Büren et al. (2018)	Sudden witnessed postictal death of a young adult with Dravet syndrome and SCN1A mutation	1	1	100%	“CT revealed global cerebral edema with completely compressed ventricular cavities and no signs of traumatic brain injury, or lesions of any type.”
5	Esen Melez et al. (2017)	Cases of patients determined to have died of SUDEP (n = 40) out of all patients with a prior diagnosis of epilepsy referred to The Ministry of Justice Council of Forensic Medicine in Istanbul between 2007 and 2011 (n = 112).	40	24	60%	“All SUDEP patients having brain edema (n = 24, 60%) also had pulmonary edema”
6	Dlouhy et al., 2017	Sudden death at night in a child with complex febrile GTCSs	1	1	100%	“Neuropathological examination of the brain revealed global cerebral edema and marked softening of the brain with central, uncal, and tonsillar herniation—expected findings days after an anoxic brain injury.” (patient was resuscitated and died 2 days later)
7	Thom et al. (2016)	Postmortem reports in SUDEP cases from four UK neuropathology centers.	145	41	28%	“Mild degrees of brain swelling were reported in 28% of cases; this was based on report descriptions of swelling, excessive ‘fullness’ of the brain with flattening of the gyri over the convexities an exaggerated impression of the tentorium on the unci or by assessment by the level of the Greenhall line. No significant swelling or tonsillar herniation was reported in any case.”
8	Gronborg and Uldall (2014)	SUDEP cases (n = 9) among the 1974 patients with childhood‐onset epilepsy at a tertiary epilepsy center in Denmark followed over a period of 9 years.	9	2	22%	“Autopsy showed moderate brain edema in patient 1 and 9”
9	Pollanen and Kodikara (2012)	SUDEP cases identified from March 2005 through May 2010 in the Provincial Forensic Pathology Unit, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.	24	0	0%
10	Catarino et al. (2011)	SUDEP case within a retrospective genetic analysis of adult patients with Dravet syndrome at National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery clinics. This individual patient was found to carry an SCN1A mutation	1	1	100%	“Swollen brain with herniation (1,300 g)”
11	Le Gal et al., 2010	A case of SUDEP in a boy with drug‐resistant Dravet syndrome and SCN1A mutation	1	1	100%	Neuropathologic examination detected […], and global brain edema without mass effect
12	Salmo and Connolly (2002)	SUDEP cases among autopsy reports (n = 3,103) over a 10 year period at Galway University Hospital	22	2	9%
13	Shields et al. (2002)	SUDEP cases between 1996–2000 which underwent gross examination of the brain by either a forensic pathologist or consulting neuropathologist.	64	0	0%
14	Antoniuk et al. (2001)	Cases recognized as SUDEP among deaths registered between Jan 1990 to July 1999 that underwent postmortem examination at the Medicolegal Institute of Curitiba – Brazil.	20	11	55%	The cause of death was attributed to cerebral edema (7 cases), pulmonary edema (8), pulmonary hemorrhage (1) or cerebral and pulmonary edema (4). Although most certainly related to the convulsive disorder, these lesions do not adequately explain death in these patients.
15	Thorn (1997)	SUDEP victims examined in coroners’ autopsies from around the United Kingdom between 1994–1996	25	0	0%
16	Earnest et al. (1992)	“Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome” cases identified in autopsy reports of persons with epilepsy from the coroner's offices of Denver County and four adjacent counties from January 1982 through June 1987.	44	2	4%	An additional two cases were found in cardiorespiratory arrest, were successfully resuscitated, but died in the hospital due to severe brain swelling, probably due to anoxia and brain reperfusion following cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
17	Renier and Renkawek (1990)	Autopsy of a 19‐month‐old boy with severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (Dravet syndrome) and sudden unexpected death.	1	0	0%	The most striking features[in autopsy] were microdysgenesis of cerebellum and cerebral cortex and threefold spinal cord channels with surrounding ectopic tissue. Hippocampus and brainstem were normal.
18	Leestma et al. (1989)	SUDEP cases undergoing examination of the brain by the Medical Examiner of Cook County (Chicago), Illinois in the year of 1983	55	14	25%
19	Terrence et al. (1975)	Cases in which death due to epilepsy was certified in autopsy records of the Allegheny County Coroner's Office from 1969 through 1973. Only cases with a complete autopsy and in which acute myocardial infarction, recent coronary occlusion, heart disease of such severity that an arrhythmia might be a reasonable possibility, trauma and evidence of aspiration could be excluded were included.	37	0	0%	In all cases in the study there were no significant findings in the general autopsy