Mean Brain Weight among Autopsy Cases at the Department of Forensic Medicine of a Tertiary Care Centre: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION

Weight of the brain is an important diagnostic criterion during autopsy. Normal variations in brain weight among various population demands for population-specific study. The aim of this study was to find the mean brain weight among autopsy cases at a tertiary care centre.

METHODS

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among autopsy cases in the Department of Forensic Medicine of a tertiary care hospital from July 2019 to July 2021. The approval for the study was obtained from the Institutional Review Committee (Reference number: 550/2019). Convenience sampling was done. Brain was dissected following standard autopsy technique and weight was measured by an electronic digital weighing scale (5 kg/0.01 gm). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 20.0 was used for data analysis. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval and descriptive statistics were used to express results in frequency, mean, standard deviation, range, and percentage.

RESULTS

The mean brain weight for 394 autopsy cases was 1272.38±144.07 grams (1258.15-1286.60 at 95% Confidence Interval). For male and female it was 1322.47±140.22 grams and 1221.27±129.55 grams respectively. Maximum attainment of brain weight was found at 21 to 30 years age group for both sexes. Out of 394 cases, 199 (50.50%) were males and 195 (49.50%) were females. In all the age groups, male brain weight was greater than that of female.

CONCLUSIONS

The mean weight of the brain derived from the present study is found to have variable values in comparison to other studies done under similar settings.

KEYWORDS

autopsy; brain; organ weight.