Abstract
BackgroundAssessment of spleen size is an important part of the clinical skills of medical students and physicians. Many diseases can affect the size of the aforementioned organ, ranging from infective processes to malignant disorders. However, to detect changes, prior knowledge of the actual normal size of these viscera is required in the population being studied. Establishing a customized chart and curve for a specific population of the same sociodemographic characteristics enables a better interpretation of sonographic assessments.MethodsA hospital-based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 403 children in primary and referral hospitals of the east and west Gojjam zone. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, physical examination, and ultrasound. The collected data were entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and exports to SPSS version 24 for analysis. Descriptive data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. A Pearson product-moment correlation was run to determine the relationship between age, anthropometric measurements of children, and ultrasound measurements of the spleen. Reference intervals were established using non-parametric reference limits (2.5th -97.5th ) and (5th – 97th ) percentiles by MedCalc software version 20.0.3.ResultsFour hundred three children aged from 7 to 15 years were included in this study. The mean sonographic longitudinal (length), anteroposterior(depth) and transverse (width) dimension of the spleen was, (8.24 ± 1.26 cm), (3.98 ± 0.57 cm), and (4.26 ± 0.59 cm) respectively. The mean volume of the spleen was 75.04 ± 23.92 cm3. The height and body surface area of children were best correlated with sonographic dimensions of the spleen. Reference intervals were established using height, age, and body surface area specific for clinically practical dimensions of the spleen.ConclusionsAccording to this study, the children are considered as having enlarged longitudinal dimension of the spleen(splenomegaly) if he or she has a size above 97.5th percentile based on their respective height.
Highlights
Assessment of spleen size is an important part of the clinical skills of medical students and physicians
A one-way ANOVA was conducted to compare the means of anthropometric measurements among children of each age group
Children with the longitudinal dimension of spleen above 97.5th percentile values with their specific height are considered as having splenomegaly
Summary
Assessment of spleen size is an important part of the clinical skills of medical students and physicians. Assessment of spleen size is an important part of the clinical skills of medical students and physicians, and determination of spleen span is essential. Many diseases can affect the spleen size, ranging from infective processes to malignant disorders. The clinical assessment of spleen size remains an important part of a physical examination, and knowledge of its normal values at different ages is essential in children and adolescents. This procedure is usually the first step in detecting the abnormal size of the spleen [2]. The clinical examination has been established to be often inaccurate in detecting especially small increases in size [4]
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