A Prospective Study to Compare the Adult Weights of Internal Organs From the Copperbelt Province of Zambia With the Reference Internal Organ Weights Listed in the International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication 89 (Icrp 89)

Abstract

The objective of the study was to compare the weight of internal organs of the adult Zambian with the values indicated in ICRP 89. The study involved 115 (83 males and 32 female) forensic autopsies from Ndola Teaching Hospital done over a period of 12 months. In this study, subjects who died due to disease process were not included, only accidental and homicide cases were included in the study. The average weight of the internal organs was compared to ICRP 89 values. One sample t-test was used to determine the significance of the differences in weights. P-values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. It was observed that the weight of the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and brain were smaller compared to ICRP 89 values, except the size of the spleen which was statistically the same in the male subjects, while the heart and the spleen was statistically the same in the female subjects. The differences in the weights of internal organs was attributed to the differences in body size between ICRP and NTH subjects.