A postmortem study on the weight of the human adrenal glands

Objective: A cross-sectional descriptive type of study was designed to find out the difference in weight of the right and left adrenal glands of Bangladeshi people in relation to age and to compare with the previous studies. Materials & Methods: The study was done in the Department of Anatomy, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka from July 2008 to June 2009 and performed on 140 post mortem human adrenal glands collected from 70 unclaimed dead bodies which were in the morgue under examination in the Department of Forensic Medicine, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka. The samples were divided into four age-groups including group A (11-20 years), group B (21-30 years), group C (31-40 years) & group D (41-60 years) and the weight of the adrenal glands were measured and recorded. Results: There was no difference found in weight in between the right and the left adrenal glands in any age group. For the right adrenal gland, the differences in weight between group A & group B and group A & group D were statistically significant (p<0.05). For the left adrenal gland, the differences in weight between group A & group D and group C & group D were statistically significant (p<0.05).


Introduction
The adrenal gland is a life-saving endocrine gland of the human body.In 1855, Thomas Addison showed that adrenal glands were necessary for life, by identifying them as the site of damage in previously mysterious and ultimately fatal illness which became known as 'Addison's disease' 1 .Any deviation from the normal functions of the adrenal glands certainly causes derangement of the harmony of life.Adrenal pathology can manifest in various ways either hypofunctional caused by primary atrophy, tuberculous destruction, adrenal cancer etc. or hyperfunctional caused by hyperplasia, adrenal tumours etc. 2 .Exact knowledge of the normal morphometry e.g. the weight of the adrenal gland, may facilitate the surgeons, endocrinologists, pathologists and radiologists to adopt appropriate diagnosis and treatment of various clinical conditions associated of the adrenal glands 3 , as adrenal weight may be affected by patients' gender, age, laterality of adrenal gland and presence of systemic disease 4 .Moreover, it has been observed by various researchers that the dimensions of different organs in Bangladeshi population have got variations from those of the western population 5 .It is also observed by reviewing the literatures and the texts that several works have been done on the morphological aspects of the adrenal glands in foreign countries, but sufficient attention has not been given in morphological experiment in our country.There is no existing record of any study regarding the adrenal glands' weight in Bangladeshi population..

Measurement of weight of the adrenal gland:
The adrenal gland was taken and its outer surface was dried with blotting paper.
Then the gland was weighed by means of a digital balance (SCIENTECH ZSA 210, made in USA) in grams.

Statistical processing of data:
The collected data were processed and statistical analyses were done by one-way ANOVA test.erformed autopsy of 499 Thai corpses and stated that the average weight of the right adrenals were 5 gm and 7.9 gm and the left adrenals 6 gm and 8 gm in male and female respectively in Thai population.They also found that adrenals' weight increased with the increasing body height and were heavier in females.The present study reveals the fact that there is no difference in weight between the right and the left adrenal glands and the findings of average weight of the gland are consistent with the previous studies except that of Lam, Chan and Lo 4 , Singh et al. 9 , and Narongchai duo 12 , where the values were found higher.

Conclusion
Further studies with larger sample and high technical backup are recommended.The results of the present study can be used as a standard reference weight for the adrenal glands of Bangladeshi people and to determine the abnormal evidences in Forensic and Pathologic corpses.

Table I :
Grouping of the sample of the present study (n = 140)

Table II :
Weight of right and left adrenal gland in different age group Figures in parentheses indicate range.Comparison between the right & the left and inbetween different age group were done by One-way ANOVA (PostHoc), ns = not significant, **/*** = significant.