Authors
1 Department of Surgery, Medical College, Kirkuk University
2 Department of Radiology, Azadi Teaching Hospital, Kirkuk
3 Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College, Kirkuk University
Abstract
Background: Splenomegaly is a clinically important finding, particularly for physicians required to make decisions on variety of disease status including infectious, storage diseases and malignant disorders. Objective diagnostic measures have been proposed as a useful step in making decisions in those patients using ultrasonography, as it‘s a noninvasive, established, safe, quick and accurate method for measurement of spleen size. There are racial differences in normal splenic size, as previous ultrasound data have been suggested. These differences in splenic size result in improper interpretation of splenic measurements. Objectives: To develop standards of normal range of splenic length (as indicator for splenic size) for our adult population based on gender, age and body mass index using ultrasound scan. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted in the department of Radiology in Azadi Teaching Hospital, Kirkuk, Iraq within a period from May 2013 to April 2016. The study was conducted among 303 adult individuals (120 males and 183 females), they were healthy individuals more than 18 years old not suffering from diseases affecting the spleen, the exclusion criteria were individuals not willing to participate; history of medical disorders affecting spleen, such as blood, metabolic and connective tissue diseases, portal hypertension, high body temperature within the last month of examination, malignancy, and pregnancy. Maximum splenic length in centimeters was assessed at level of splenic hilum on the longitudinal view using 5 MHz sector curvilinear transducer probe for trans-abdominal Ultrasonography. 2-tailed t test was used to assess the differences between continues variables. The Relationship of length of spleen with age, and body mass index (BMI) were assessed with the Pearson‘s correlation coefficient (r). Results: The mean age of the study sample was 38.05±15.58 years for male and 37.23±13.98 for female, their mean body height was 173.1±46 cm for male and 159.70±4.88 cm for female, their body weight was 83.42±16.70 kg for male and 73.19±15.90 Kg for female and mean BMI were 27.86 ±5.42 for male and 28.58±6.27 for female. Mean spleen length were 10.65±1.41 for male and 9.52±1.25 for female. There was significant correlation between spleen length and gender (p< 0.05). There was weak negative correlation with age, and weak positive relation between the splenic length and BMI. Conclusion: This study provides the values of normal splenic size by ultrasonography in adults‘ for both genders at Kirkuk city. The splenic size had weak positive correlation with body mass index (BMI), and weak negative correlation with age.
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