Sonographic Measurement of Spleen to Left Kidney Ratio among Saudi Children

Objective: Spleen length varying according to many factors such as individual height, age and weight, determination of mild splenomegaly might be extremely inaccurate. The goal of this study was to determine the spleen to left kidney ratio in different age group among school age children in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 150 healthy subjects (66 boys and 84 girls) their age ranged from 7 to 15 years. The study was conducted at the Taawon clinic in Kharj city, Saudi Arabia. The sonographic examination was performed using Siemens (Acuson X300) machine with convex probe (3.5 – 5 MHz). Spleen and left kidney lengths were measured as well as weight and height of the subjects. Results: The result of the study showed that there is no significant different between boys and girls regarding spleen and left kidney lengths (p > 0.05). The spleen to left kidney ratio was found to be about 1.1 with 1.3 as the normal upper limit in the study sample. Conclusion: Spleen to left kidney length ratio becomes a promising method to detect non palpable splenic enlargement. Mild splenomegaly is considered if the spleen to left kidney ratio is greater than 1.3 in the absence of kidney disorders.