Application of cross-sectional area measurement under high frequency ultrasound in diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia in infants

Abstract

Objective To disscuss the role of cross-sectional area measurement under high frequency ultrasound in the diagnosis of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in infants. Methods The abdominal ultrasound images of 20 infants with CAH which were admitted to our hospital and clinical diagnosised from November 2013 to August 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. The size of adrenal glands were evaluated by measuring the maximum cross-sectional area.Fifty normal full-term infants were selected as control group synchronism. The size of adrenal glands between infants with CAH and normal infants were compared. The area under the curve (AUC) and best cutoff value were obtained by drawing ROC curve.Sensitivity and specificity were also obtained. Results There was significant difference in maximum cross-sectional area of adrenal gland between CAH group and control group[(129.70±37.34)mm2 vs (54.41±20.84)mm2, t=10.004, P=0.001]. The AUC of cross-sectional area measurement was 0.966, and best cutoff value was 87.5 mm2. The sensitivity and specificity were 95.0% and 92.5%. Conclusions High-frequency ultrasound is convenient and accurate in measuring the maximum cross-sectional area of adrenal gland in infants. Cross-sectional area measurement has high sensitivity and specificity to the diagnosis of CAH. The presence of CAH is highly suspected when the area of adrenal gland reached 87.5 mm2. Key words: Ultrasonography; Congenital adrenal hyperplasia; Infant; Cross-sectional area of adrenal gland