Relationship between liver size and body size.

Abstract

WITH THE ADVENT of newer technics for organ visualization such as radionuclide scanning, it is helpful to know the normal range of organ size relative to body size. Unfortunately, little information on this subject is available. For example, most references give the range of liver weight in the adult male or female without giving the relationship to body height or weight (1–5). In a series of autopsies, Stowens related liver weight to body height for children (6). The only data, however, on the relationship of liver weight and size to body weight, height, and/or surface in adults are the studies made by Frericks (7) of 24 persons. We selected, therefore, a series of 550 cases from 5,000 autopsy protocols of the Department of Pathology of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, plus 75 nonhospitalized autopsied cases (60 males and 15 females) from the files of the Medical Examiner's Office of the State of Maryland. From these cases studied, we were able to relate liver size to body size. Materials and Methods The 550 cases were selected on the basis of the following criteria: (a) no clinical, laboratory, or autopsy evidence of hepatic pathology; (b) no evidence of cardiovascular disease, such as cardiac decompensation or increased peripheral venous pressure ; (c) no evidence of systemic disease of the liver, such as infection, lymphoma, leukemia, or collagen disease. These same criteria were used in the selection of the cases of the Medical Examiner. Such cases were limited to those persons dying instantaneously from gunshot wounds, severe crushing injuries, falls from high structures, or automobile accidents. Cases were not included if there was evidence of significant hemorrhage prior to death. Data on age, sex, body weight and height, and liver weight were tabulated. Measurements of the width, height, and depth of the liver were made at the time of autopsy in only the hospital series. Body surface area was determined from a nomogram based on the formula of DuBois and DuBois(11): Results Relationship Between Liver Weight and Body Weight: The body weights of the subjects were grouped in 5 kg increments. The mean liver weight (±1 S.D.) for each increment is shown in Figure 1. It can be seen that as body weight increases, the liver weight increases, but at a slower rate. According to Stahl (8), the relationship between body weight and organ weight in animals is more linear if one relates the exponential function of each. Therefore, the logarithm of body weight was plotted as the abscissa, and the logarithm of the mean liver weight as the ordinate (Fig. 2). For a body weight between 3 and 20 kg the relationship was a nearly straight line with a slope of about 45 °. From 20–30 kg of body weight the rate of increase in liver weight decreased but remained nearly linear. The liver is reported to be 3.8 per cent of body weight at birth (9).