Determination of Normal Dimension of the Spleen by Ultrasound and its Correlation with Age

Background: Spleen size is an integral part of abdominal ultrasonography (US) because both enlarged and small spleens can be indicative of a variety of physical conditions. The purpose of this study was to define age and region corrected normal values for spleen dimensions determined with USG.

Methods: A cross-sectional prospective study design was performed at the University of Gondar, hospital. The sonographic measurements of spleen length, width, thickness and volume were performed on 380 subjects. By Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficients, the relation of spleen dimensions to age was evaluated.

Results: The splenic dimensions (length, width and thickness) decreased with increase in age of adult subject in both male and female. Comparison between mean splenic dimensions between urban and rural residency showed no statistical significance differences (P>0.05) for splenic length, width and volume. There is a statistically significant negative correlation between the age of the female subjects and splenic dimensions (r=-0.146, -0.221, and -0.185 for spleen length, width, and thickness, respectively). For the male subjects, there was a statistically significant negative correlation between age of subjects and splenic length, width, thickness and volume (r=-0.271, P<0.0001, r=-0.354, p<0.0001, r=-0.223, p<0.01 and r=-0.282, p<0.0001, respectively) which decreased with age.

Conclusion: The study showed that spleen dimensions correlate partly independently with age and provide reference tables and tools for assessment of the upper limits of normal spleen dimensions for a given region.

Keywords: Spleen dimensions, Age, Ultra-sonography