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Normal sonographic renal length measurements in an Australian pediatric population

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Abstract

Background

Reference charts depicting normal growth are important for the sonographic assessment of the pediatric kidney. Limited charts are available for clinical use in an Australian population.

Objective

To retrospectively collate sonographic renal length measurements in a cohort of low-risk Australian children aged newborn to 16 years to produce a reference table and comparison with other published charts.

Materials and methods

We identified consecutive pediatric patients who were at low risk for renal disease and had renal lengths measured. After exclusions, we included 941 renal lengths (male 490, female 451). We used linear regression to estimate the relationship of renal length with age, gender and side. We calculated percentile values of renal length according to age categories.

Results

No statistically significant differences in mean renal length were observed between males and females, or for left and right kidneys. We tabulated reference data and provide them in a reference chart (1-, 2.5-, 5-, 10-, 50-, 90-, 97.5- and 99-percentiles).

Conclusion

We calculated new reference ranges for pediatric renal length using a larger cohort than previously published, from a population with diverse ethnicity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ultrasound, Monash Imaging, Monash Children’s Hospital, Monash Health, 246 Clayton Road, Clayton, 3168, Australia

    Peter R. Coombs, Ilona Lavender & Michael Ditchfield

  2. Department of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Peter R. Coombs, Michelle Y. Z. Leung & Jessica C. Woods

  3. Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Eldho Paul

  4. Department of Paediatric Urology, Monash Children’s Hospital, Monash Health, Clayton, Australia

    Nathalie Webb

  5. Department of Paediatrics and Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Michael Ditchfield

Authors
  1. Peter R. Coombs
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  2. Ilona Lavender
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  3. Michelle Y. Z. Leung
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  4. Jessica C. Woods
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  5. Eldho Paul
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  7. Michael Ditchfield
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Correspondence to Peter R. Coombs.

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Coombs, P.R., Lavender, I., Leung, M.Y.Z. et al. Normal sonographic renal length measurements in an Australian pediatric population. Pediatr Radiol 49, 1754–1761 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-019-04486-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-019-04486-2

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