Study of the normal internal organ weights in Tehran's population.
OBJECTIVE
Examine the normal adult internal organ weight and its relationship with body height, body weight, body mass index and age.


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 88 years. 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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. ardeshirsheikhazadi@yahoo.com
Ardeshir
A
Sheikhazadi
Seyed Shahabeddin
SS
Sadr
Mohammad Hasan
MH
Ghadyani
Seyed Kazem
SK
Taheri
Ali Asghar
AA
Manouchehri
Bashir
B
Nazparvar
Omid
O
Mehrpour
Mazaher
M
Ghorbani
D000293:Adolescent; D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005260:Female; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D007668:Kidney / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008168:Lung / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D010053:Ovary / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010179:Pancreas / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011467:Prostate / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013154:Spleen / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013737:Testis / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014599:Uterus / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D055815:Young Adult