Study of the normal internal organ weights in Tehran’s population

Sheikhazadi, Ardeshir; Sadr, Seyed Shahabeddin; Ghadyani, Mohammad Hasan; Taheri, Seyed Kazem; Manouchehri, Ali Asghar; Nazparvar, Bashir; Mehrpour, Omid; Ghorbani, Mazaher

doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2009.07.012

« Previous Next »Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume 17, Issue 2 , Pages 78-83, February 2010

Study of the normal internal organ weights in Tehran’s population

Ardeshir Sheikhazadi, MD (Forensic Medicine Specialist, Associate Professor)
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
- Corresponding author. Address: Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poursina St. Keshavarz Blvd., Tehran 1417613151, Iran. Tel.: +98 21 22126039, mobile: +98 912 2890395; fax: +98 21 66405588.
Seyed Shahabeddin Sadr, MD (Physiologist, Professor)
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Mohammad Hasan Ghadyani, MD (Internist, Assistant Professor)
- Legal Medicine Organization of Iran, Iran
Seyed Kazem Taheri, MD (Forensic Medicine Assistant)
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Ali Asghar Manouchehri, MD (Forensic Medicine Assistant)
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Bashir Nazparvar, MD (Forensic Medicine Specialist)
- Legal Medicine Organization of Iran, Iran
Omid Mehrpour, MD (Forensic Medicine Specialist, Assistant Professor)
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Mazaher Ghorbani, MD (Forensic Medicine Specialist, Assistant Professor)
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Received 22 September 2008; received in revised form 3 April 2009; accepted 6 July 2009.

Abstract

Objective

Examine the normal adult internal organ weight and its relationship with body height, body weight, body mass index and age.

Materials and methods

Prospective analysis of data from 1222 autopsies in Legal Medicine Organization of Iran from 1st January, 2007 to 1st September, 2008. All the subjects were adult residents of Tehran died from external causes and showed no pathological changes.

Results

The weight of the brain, heart, lungs, liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, thyroid gland, the pituitary gland, the suprarenal glands, testes, prostate, ovaries and the uterus were collected from 914 males and 308 females between 15 and 88years. The weight of all the organs was correlated statistically with at least one external parameter with the exception of the pancreas in men, the uterus, the spleen and the thyroid in women. Organ weights decreased with age except for the heart and the prostate, and increased in relation to body height and/or BMI. Except for the brain, the organ weight showed a better statistical correlation with the BMI than the body height.

Conclusion

These results can be used as standard organ weights to determine abnormal evidences in Forensic and Pathologic corpses. However such results have to be regularly updated by pathologists in order to keep organ weight as a good criterion used in postmortem diagnosis.

Keywords: Organ weight, Height, BMI, Autopsy, Tehran, Iran