In the above work Lancisi noted cardiac hypertrophy and dilatation as causes of sudden death. He was the first to describe valvular vegetation, and his book gives a classification of the cardiac diseases then recognized. Lancisi’s work laid the foundation for a true understanding of cardiac pathology. There are three different states of the title page of this work, with no definite order of priority established. See P. Kligfield, "Survey of variant title page vignettes in Lancisi’s De subitaneis mortibus," J. Hist. Med. & all. Sci., 1983, 38, 336-39. English translation by P.D. White & AV. Boursy, New York, St. John’s University Press, [1971.]