Name: Juliano Bertollo Dettoni
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 20/03/2019
Advisor:

Name	Role
Paulo Roberto Merçon de Vargas	Advisor *

Examining board:

Name	Role
Fausto Edmundo Lima Pereira	External Examiner *
Maria Carmen Lopes Ferrira Silva Santos	Internal Examiner *
Paulo Roberto Merçon de Vargas	Advisor *

Summary: Microcephaly (MC) is a sign of brain damage, defined as the lower than expected head circumference (HC), identified by a z score for age (gestational or postnatal) and sex, less than -1,88, according to WHO. After the emergence of several cases of microcephaly associated with Zika virus infection in Brazil and inconsistencies found during the epidemiological survey, an effort was initiated to verify the occurrence of MC as well as for its causal investigation. This work has an emphasis on the evaluation of the proportionality of brain weight with body weight and brain weight with gestational age and seeks to generate consistent data on microencephaly (ME) in a pediatric autopsy population in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. Proportionality indices expressed as z-score were used, with reference to works by three authors (Barr et al., 1994; Guihard-Costa et al., 1995 and Archie et al., 2006) who also used pediatric autopsy populations. Regression analyzes were performed and the results demonstrated through graphs and tables. The regressive analyzes showed a good correlation between the weight of the brain for body weight and the weight of the brain for gestational age. Using data from Barr et al, Guihard-Costa et al and Archie et al, we observed an occurrence of microencephaly and macroencephaly in the pediatric population higher than expected. The results indicate that the proportionality method allows the screening and diagnosis of cases of microencephaly and macroencephaly in this population, and should be applied in pediatric autopsy practice. We emphasize the need for complementation with the histopathological analysis for the final diagnosis.

Key Words: autopsy, pediatric pathology, microencephaly, proportionality, z score.