Organ weight in 684 adult autopsies: new tables for a Caucasoid population

The weights of normal organs were retrospectively culled for the years 1987 -1991 from 684 forensic autopsy cases. All the subjects: were Caucasoid adu lts who died of external causes and showed no pathological changes. The wei ghts of the Following organs were available: the heart, the right and the l eft lung, the liver, the spleen, the pancreas, the right and the left kidne y and the thyroid gland. The external parameters used fur statistical corre lation were the age, the height, the body weight and the body mass index (B MI) of the deceased. The weight of all the organs was shown to correlate wi th at least one external parameter, with the exception of thyroids in femal es. Organ weights decreased with age except for the heart and the thyroid. and increased in relation to body height and/or BMI. Except for the heart, the organ weight showed a better statistical correlation with the body heig ht than the BMI. These updated tables of organ weight were compared with th e data collected in previous studies, Such tables have to be regularly upda ted by pathologists in order to keep organ weight as a good criterion to be used in post-mortem diagnosis. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.