Sonographic Assessment of Spleen to Left Kidney Ratio among School Going Children Ranging in Age from 8 to 15 years

Abstract

Spleen is a vital organ of the lymphatic system and it provides immunity against infections, the spleen in affected people may be large. To diagnose small or infarcted spleen and splenomegaly, the splenic size must be determined. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the ratio of the spleen to the left kidney for the detection of mild splenomegaly. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study conducted at the private health care center in Sialkot. Data were collected during three months from January 2022 to March 2022 after informed consent. This study included 101 school-going children ranging in age from 8 to 15 years, all of whom had normal spleen and kidneys. A SonoAce 100 ultrasound machine with a 3.5MHz convex transducer was used to measure the length of the spleen and left kidney. Results: This study included 101 subjects with 54 boys and 47 girls. Children were in the range of 8-15 years. The mean age was 11.11±2.16 years, the mean height was 134.2±12.69 cm, and the mean weight of the subjects was 34.5±10.36 Kg. The mean of spleen length was 9.67±1.25 cm, the mean of kidney length was 8.69±1.16cm and the mean S/K ratio was 1.1±0.07. The mean of spleen and left kidney length was almost the same in both genders while the S/K ratio for boys (1.13±0.08) was greater than for girls (1.08±0.05). Conclusion: It is concluded that the minimum and maximum values of the S/K ratio were 0.94 and 1.3 respectively. Splenomegaly should be suspected in those subjects whose ratio of the spleen to left kidney exceeds 1.3 without kidney disorders. Boys had a greater S/K ratio as compared to girls.