Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) deposition has been long associated with heart weight. However, recent research has failed to replicate this association. We aimed to determine the association of EAT volume with heart weight in post-mortem cases and identify potential confounding variables. EAT volume derived from post-mortem computed tomography (PMCT) and heart weight were measured in post-mortem cases (N = 87, age: 56 ± 16 years, 28% female). Cases with hypertrophied heart weights (N = 44) were determined from reference tables. Univariable associations were tested using Spearman correlation and simple linear regression. Independence was determined with stepwise regression. In the total cohort, EAT volume (median 66 ± 45 cm3) was positively associated with heart weight (median 435 ± 132 g) at the univariable level (r = 0.6, P < 0.0001) and after adjustment for age, female sex, and various body size metrics (R2 adjusted = 0.41-0.57). Median EAT volume was 1.9-fold greater in cases with hypertrophic hearts (P < 0.0001) but with considerably greater variability, especially in cases with extreme EAT volume or heart weight. As such, EAT volume was not associated with heart weight in hypertrophic cases, while a robust independent association was found in non-hypertrophic cases (R2 adjusted = 0.62-0.86). EAT mass estimated from EAT volume found that EAT comprised approximately 13% of overall heart mass in the total cases. This was significantly greater in cases with hypertrophy (median 15.5%; range, 3.6-36.6%) relative to non-hypertrophied cases (12.5%, 3.3-24.3%) (P = 0.04). EAT volume is independently and positively associated with heart weight in post-mortem cases. Excessive heart weight significantly confounded this association.

BACKGROUND: Objective assessment of cardiac hypertrophy in forensic pathology practice is of great significance for forensic pathologists, for whom reference values for normal heart weights are needed. Developed regions such as Europe, the United States, and Japan recalculate the weight of human organs at regular intervals, but in China, there has been no systematic calculation of the weights of human organs since 2006.
OBJECTIVE: To statistically analyse the heart weight of Chinese adults postmortem and obtain a reference range.
METHODS: 4170 adult autopsy reports were collected from 12 forensic departments in 10 provinces in China. The causes of death were classified by sex, and heart weight and the heart weight/body height ratio reference values were further calculated according to different body mass index and body heights. Finally, the cutoff value of cardiac hypertrophy in Chinese adults was calculated.
RESULTS: In the group of non-cardiovascular disease causes of death, the cardiac weight of the electric death group was higher, while the heart weight of the prolonged bed-rest group was significantly reduced. After the electric death and prolonged bed-rest groups were excluded, heart weight, the heart weight/body height ratio, and cutoff values for cardiac hypertrophy were further classified and analysed according to body mass index. The mean reference values for heart weight in men and women with normal weight status were 325.82 ± 41.60 g and 286.39 ± 44.84 g, and the heart weight/body height ratios were 1.95 ± 0.23 in men and 1.82 ± 0.27, respectively. The cutoff values for cardiac hypertrophy were 387.35 g for men and 346.80 g for women.
CONCLUSIONS: The heart weight reference values of both sexes in this study were significantly higher than those in 2006, which is considered related to the development of China\'s economy and the improvement of people\'s living standards. This study also suggests the need for a new round of statistical surveys and updated data on the weight of other organs.

During autopsies, weighing the heart is a standard procedure. In addition to myocardial pathologies, heart size, and ventricular wall thickness, heart weight is a common parameter to describe cardiac pathology and should be recorded as accurately as possible. To date, there exists no standard for recording heart weight at autopsy, although some authors recommend weighing the heart after dissection and removal of blood and blood clots. In the study presented, the hearts of 58 decedents were weighed after being dissected out of the pericardial sac (a), after dissection using the short-axis or inflow-outflow method with manual removal of blood and blood clots (b), and after rinsing and drying (c). Depending on the dissection method, the heart weight was 7.8% lower for the inflow-outflow method and 11.6% lower for the short-axis method after dissection compared to before and correspondingly 2.9% to 5% lower again after rinsing and drying respectively. Accordingly, the heart should be dissected, blood and blood clots removed, rinsed with water, and dried with a surgical towel after dissection, before weighing.

UNASSIGNED: The risk factors for myocardial infarction (MI) can be separated into three general categories: non-modifiable factors, modifiable risk factors, and lifestyle. This study aimed to investigate whether or not there was any effect of cardiac wall thickness and coronary artery obstructions on acute MI.
UNASSIGNED: In this retrospective study of histopathological examinations of autopsies, two groups were formed. The first contained 28 cases diagnosed with acute MI and the second 28 cases with no heart pathology and the cause of death was reasons other than heart disease. The subjects in the two groups were similar in age, height, weight, and body mass index. The groups were compared in terms of the left and right ventricular wall thicknesses and the degree of obstruction of the right, left, anterior descending, and circumflex coronary arteries.
UNASSIGNED: The mean left ventricular wall thickness was 1.461±0.2767 cm in the acute MI group and 1.386±0.2460 cm in the control group, with no statistically significant difference found between the two groups (p=0.289). A statistically significant difference in the degree of obstruction of the coronary arteries was found between the groups.
UNASSIGNED: Although the mean cardiac wall thickness was greater in the acute MI cases, no statistically significant difference was found between the two groups.
UNASSIGNED: Akut miyokard enfarktüsünde (MI) risk faktörleri 3 kategoriye ayrılır. Değiştirilemeyen risk faktörleri, değiştirilebilir risk faktörleri ve yaşam tarzı ile ortaya çıkabilen risk faktörleridir. Bu çalışmada kalbin duvar kalınlıkları ve koroner arter tıkanıklıklarının akut MI üzerinde bir etkisinin olup olmadığı araştırılmıştır.
UNASSIGNED: Retrospektif olarak yapılan çalışmada otopsilerin patolojik incelemesinde akut MI tanısı almış 28 olgu ile ölüm nedeni kalp hastalığı olmayan ve kalp patolojisi tespit edilmeyen 28 olgu seçildi. İki grup oluşturuldu. Ağırlık, boy, vücut kitle indeksi ve yaş iki grup için de yakın olacak şekilde yapıldı. Sol ve sağ ventrikül duvar kalınlıkları ve sirkumfleks, ön inen, sağ ve sol koroner damaraların tıkanıklık dereceleri karşılaştırıldı.
UNASSIGNED: Sol ventrikül duvar kalınlığı akut MI grubunda ortalama 1,461±0,2767, kontrol grubunda ise 1,386±0,2460 olup istatistiksel olarak anlamlı değildi (p=0,289). Koroner arter tıkanıklıklarının derecelerinin de iki grup arasında farklı idi ve bu farkta istatistiksel olarak anlamlıydı.
UNASSIGNED: Kalbin duvar kalınlıkları ortalamaları, akut MI olgularında daha yüksek olsa da gruplar arasında anlamlı istatistiksel fark saptanmamıştır.

Organomegaly can be a strong predictor of an underlying pathological condition. There are many standard tables available in various texts listing the normal organ weight range, yet there is a lack of a standard table that is accepted globally. The main reason behind this is variation in organ weight due to socioeconomic status, geographical variation, and racial and stature variation among different global populations. The Western population has different stature compared to our population, that is, residents of Uttarakhand, India. Different studies tabulated organ weights in different regions of the world and correlated with different bodily parameters such as sex, race, stature, BMI, etc, which have shown a significant variation. There are different sets of data available that cannot be accepted universally due to regional variation. Most of the studies done in various parts of the world do not specify the condition of the organ, whether it was normal at the time of study or not. The methods of dissection of organs were also not explained in different studies. In this study, a total of eight organs were weighed from 137 autopsies conducted at the mortuary of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Rishikesh over a period of 1.5 years. It was found that the average brain weighed in males was 1313.2 gm (±127.7 gm) and among females, it was 1218.0 gm (±122.82 gm). The weight of the heart was 310.1 gm (±83.97 gm) in males and 241.2 gm (±71.42 gm) in females. Right and left lungs weighed 499.4 gm (±207.5 gm)/407.5 gm (±128.66 gm) and 459.6 gm (±179.19 gm)/369.4 gm (±144.17 gm) among males and females, respectively. The liver weight was 1477.0 gm (±370.52 gm) in males and 1309.0 gm (±274.18 gm) among females. Spleen weighed 154.0 gm (±74.63 gm) in males and 156.0 gm (±65.0 gm) in females. The right and left kidneys weighed 125.9 gm (±37.92 gm)/108.1 gm (±28.80 gm) and 126.3 gm (±31.26 gm)/106.6 gm (±22.4 gm) among males and females, respectively. In our study, we have done a histological examination to rule out any pathological condition before including the weight of the organs in the study. The present study is to derive a standard organ weight among the inhabitants of Uttarakhand, India, and to look for a variation in organ weight among different studies done in the past in different regions of the world.

Blood and blood clots should be removed from the heart chambers before being weighed. The actual method in removing blood and blood clots may vary and can include manual removal with subsequent rinsing the heart in water. It is unclear whether drying the rinsed heart affects the heart weight. The objective of this article was to investigate the effects drying the rinsed dissected heart (residual rinsing water) on postmortem heart weight. The prospective study compared 44 dissected heart weights after being rinsed and after being pat dried. An average 18-20 g of residual rinsing water (4% of heart weight) was present in the dissected heart. The amount of residual rinsing water correlates positively with heart weight. The effects of drying the rinsed dissected heart were considered clinically insignificant. Although being clinically insignificant, this study highlights the lack of standardized approach in weighing the heart and the potential implications in interpreting heart weights.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac hypertrophy is a clinical risk factor for cardiovascular death (CVD) frequently recorded in autopsy reports, but the diagnostic criteria for the condition have not been clearly-established for autopsy. This study aimed to estimate the cutoff value for hypertrophic heart weight that can efficiently assist the postmortem diagnosis of CVD.
METHODS: We analyzed accumulated autopsy data from 3534 individuals aged 0-101 years.
RESULTS: We found that heart weight increased linearly with a person\'s age until 20 years, after which it remained stable. The mean heart weight in CVD cases was 473 g in men and 379 g in women. The mean heart weight in non-CVD cases was 385 g in men and 320 g in women. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for CVD assessment revealed that the cutoff value of heart weight was 407 g (odds ratio of 4.2) in men and 327 g (2.6) in women, and that of heart weight/body height was 2.38 g/cm (4.0) in men and 2.15 g/cm (2.6) in women, respectively. Overall, heart weight was a more useful predictor of CVD in men than in women. In logistic regression analysis, the predictive power of heart weight for CVD was higher than that of body mass index in both sexes.
CONCLUSIONS: Thus, the criteria for hypertrophic heart weight are practical and useful for autopsy recordings, and it can be helpful for postmortem diagnosis of CVD. Our report is the first to reveal the cutoff value for hypertrophic heart weight in the Japanese population.

BACKGROUND: Measurement of heart weight is important when investigating cause of death, but there is presently no satisfactory method of heart weight estimation by postmortem computed tomography (PMCT).
METHODS: We investigated 33 consecutive cases that underwent both PMCT and autopsy between February 2008 and June 2014. Heart and left ventricular (LV) weights were calculated by PMCT morphometry. We used a simple method to estimate LV weight: We assumed that LV was an ellipsoid and multiplied its volume on PMCT with myocardial specific gravity. We then compared the various heart and LV weights using linear regression. The calculated and estimated LV weights on PMCT were also compared.
RESULTS: It was not possible to predict heart weight at autopsy from PMCT (R2 = 0.53). However, heart weight at autopsy could be accurately predicted from LV weight calculated by PMCT (R2 = 0.77). In addition, there was a strong correlation between the estimated and calculated LV weights by PMCT (R2 = 0.92). Heart weight at autopsy could also be accurately predicted using the PMCT-estimated LV weight (R2 = 0.72).
CONCLUSIONS: Heart weight at autopsy could be accurately predicted using a simple method in which LV volume was assumed to be an ellipsoid on PMCT.

Cachexia is a severe complication of cancer that adversely affects the course of the disease and is associated with high rates of mortality. Patients with cancer manifest symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and impaired exercise tolerance, which are clinical signs of chronic heart failure. The aim of this study was to evaluate cardiac muscle wasting in cancer individuals.
We retrospectively analysed 177 individuals who died of cancer, including 58 lung, 60 pancreatic, and 59 gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, and 42 cancer-free controls who died of other, non-cardiovascular reasons. Cancer cachexia (CC) was defined based on clinical and/or pathological diagnosis, body mass index (BMI) <20.0 kg/m2 and/or oedema-free body weight loss of 5.0% during the previous year or less. The pathology reports were analysed for BMI, heart weight (HW), and left and right ventricular wall thicknesses (LVWT and RVWT, respectively). The analysis of clinical data included recording of biochemical parameters and medication data of study patients. CC was detected in 54 (30.5%) subjects. Individuals with CC had a significantly lower HW than non-cachectic subjects (363.1 ± 86.2 vs. 447.0 ± 128.9 g, P < 0.001) and control group (412.9 ± 75.8 g, P < 0.05). BMI correlated with HW in cases with GI cancer (r = 0.44, P < 0.001), lung cancer (r = 0.53, P < 0.0001), and pancreatic cancer (r = 0.39, P < 0.01).
Body weight loss in individuals with lung, pancreatic, and GI cancers is accompanied by a decrease in HW. In patients with CC who receive cancer treatment, screening for cardiac muscle wasting may have clinical importance.

The aim of the study is to get a better understanding of what a normal heart weight is and to provide updated reference tables applicable in a Caucasian population. Most previous studies are outdated and often based on other ethnic populations, and these studies are often used in reference tables in pathology textbooks. We included 692 Caucasian subjects, age 20-98years, out of 2834 autopsies performed at the Department of Pathology and Genetics, St. Olavs Hospital-University Hospital of Trondheim between 2003 and 2012. Subjects with various heart or other chronic diseases were excluded. Regression analysis was applied to evaluate the relationship between heart weight and age, gender, body weight, height, body mass index and body surface area. We provide updated reference tables and discuss different approaches to the estimation of heart weight.