Heart weight must not be measured before dissection during autopsies
Standard
Heart weight must not be measured before dissection during autopsies. / Lohner, Larissa; Sinning, Christoph Robert; Suling, Anna ; Tse, Rexson; Garland, Jack; Ondruschka, Benjamin.
in: INT J LEGAL MED, Jahrgang 137, Nr. 6, 11.2023, S. 1751–1755.Publikationen: SCORING: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift/Zeitung › SCORING: Zeitschriftenaufsatz › Forschung › Begutachtung
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Heart weight must not be measured before dissection during autopsies
AU - Lohner, Larissa
AU - Sinning, Christoph Robert
AU - Suling, Anna
AU - Tse, Rexson
AU - Garland, Jack
AU - Ondruschka, Benjamin
PY - 2023/11
Y1 - 2023/11
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
U2 - 10.1007/s00414-023-03089-9
DO - 10.1007/s00414-023-03089-9
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 37723344
VL - 137
SP - 1751
EP - 1755
JO - INT J LEGAL MED
JF - INT J LEGAL MED
SN - 0937-9827
IS - 6
ER -